RP exec’s immunity request junked

The U.S. District Court yesterday junked the request of a Filipino diplomat to have the labor case against him dismissed on grounds of consular immunity.

Chief judge Alex R. Munson ordered Philippine consular assistant Ricardo P. Bautista Jr. to file his answer to the complaint lodged against him by his former houseworker, Glenda R. Tinay.

Tinay has sued Bautista for alleged breach of contract and alleged violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and local labor laws that govern minimum wage and overtime payment.

Munson said that diplomats are not entitled to immunity pursuant to the Vienna Convention if the acts complained of are not consular functions. He also denied Bautista’s immunity request based on a precedent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“The court finds that the complaint, as pleaded in regards to plaintiff’s [Tinay’s] hiring and job requirements, meets the standard to avoid dismissal in that she has successfully alleged that her duties were not performed as consular functions or in the exercise of consular functions,” Munson said.

The judge upheld his court’s jurisdiction over the case, saying that the FLSA applies to Tinay as a domestic servant, assuming that her allegations are true.

By upholding its jurisdiction over the FLSA action, the court also declared that it has jurisdiction over other causes of action based on Bautista’s alleged violation of local laws, such as the Minimum Wage and Hour Act and the Nonresident Workers Act.

Bautista earlier said that Tinay has no valid federal claim against him since her employment is exempt from overtime provisions of the FLSA.

He had said that Tinay’s other claims fail without a valid federal claim, adding that the Nonresident Workers Act does not apply to him and Tinay, who both entered the CNMI under Philippine diplomatic passports and not as nonresident workers.

Based on Tinay’s complaint, Bautista hired her on July 7, 2002 after the consular assistant drafted an employment contract that she would work for him for at least two years. Tinay served Bautista from July 7, 2002 to Feb. 1, 2005.

Based on the employment contract, Tinay would be paid an hourly rate of $5.25 per hour plus overtime. She also alleged that she could not be required to remain on his workplace after working hours without compensation. The helper claimed that Bautista violated those contract provisions, saying that she only got paid $200 monthly.