DOLI delivers payment to ex-MGM workers in China

Highlighted by over 400 personal payouts in China, the Department of Labor and Immigration has completed the first round of disbursement of a $1-million settlement to former employees of a Saipan garment manufacturer.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Clayton and a hired translator traveled to five cities in China from Dec. 5-20, where they personally delivered payments to former employees of Marianas Garment Manufacturing Inc. (MGM).

“The workers took this as proof that the fairness they had heard about the judicial process in the United States and Saipan was correct,” said Mr. Clayton. Most of them had forgotten that the case existed until they received notification that we would be coming to China and distributing money.”

In compliance with a Stipulation for Disbursement signed by both parties in November in Superior Court, DOLI distributed over $750,000 last month to 425 former MGM employees owed money for unpaid overtime from 1990 to 1992.

Prior to the disbursement, DOLI had been able to make contact with 478 of the 480 former employees owed money and had arranged for meeting with them in the cities of Nanchang, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Changzhou, and Beijing.

MGM and DOLI had agreed to transfer $800,000 of the total settlement of $1,013,088.00 from the Bank of Saipan to Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, which then issued demand drafts for each former employee DOLI had arranged to meet with in China.

“Some say they now make only $700 a year,” Mr. Clayton said. “The largest amount DOLI distributed was $3,200. That means the total award for some of them will be more than four years worth of wages.”

Payments have also been made to seven former employees still residing in the Commonwealth and six former employees now living in the United States. Efforts also continue to distribute to former employees now living in other foreign countries.

The initial payment reflected 75 percent of what each worker is owed. Additional payments will follow resolution of several outstanding issues, including claims by former workers whose names were not provided or workers who claimed to have worked for MGM longer than specified, and continued attempts to reach workers who haven’t responded yet.

Mr. Clayton credits the assistance of different branches of the government, MGM, and other individuals in executing the distribution.

“Rarely does one get the chance to assist so many people and allow them to help themselves,” he stated following the trip. “We hope this case will show non-resident workers that the CNMI government does regard their welfare as important, and they can entrust the system to adjudicate their claims fairly.”