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80 La Mode workers yet to pick up Labor papers
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Posted on May 02 2005
Over 80 of the estimated 250 former La Mode Inc. workers that attended last week’s hearings have yet to pick up the Department of Labor administrative orders addressing their claims against the defunct garment company.
Labor Department public information officer Jesse Atoigue said that as of 3pm yesterday, the Labor Hearing Office has issued only 164 of the 250 orders prepared for the workers.
“We are encouraging people to pick them up because they will need it to seek transfer employment. For those who already have temporary work authorizations, the order will justify the issuance of another TWA,” Atoigue said.
La Mode employees who want to continue working in the Commonwealth are given until June 13 to transfer to new employers.
Individuals who are unwilling or unable to find a new employer within the given 45-day period may return to their country of origin at the expense of La Mode.
Aside from granting transfer relief to workers, the order also gives La Mode 15 days to pay the wages of workers who do not dispute the amount of their unpaid wages, as estimated by La Mode.
For those who dispute the amount of wages, individual hearings will be held starting May 16, 2005 at the Department of Labor office in San Antonio. Individual orders with respect to the unpaid wages will be issued upon the conclusion of the hearings.
The order stemmed from a compliance agency case that the Division of Labor opened on behalf of La Mode employees on March 7, 2005. The Labor Division alleged that certain La Mode workers, numbering between 276 and 279, had not been paid for at least three pay periods from Dec. 6, 2004 through Jan. 16, 2005.
In a hearing held on April 28 and 29, the department gathered personal and contact information from the workers, and confirmed the amount of their wage claims. The workers were also asked whether they wished to transfer to new employers or return to their country of origin.
La Mode ceased its operations on Saipan on April 25, becoming the third garment company to do so since the Jan. 1 lifting of trade quotas on the textile industry. The two other companies are Sako Corp. and Mariana Fashions Inc.
