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Labor fines employer for late application
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Posted on Jan 04 2005
An employer was ordered to pay a $400 fine for filing an employment application a month late.
Department of Labor hearing officer Jerry Cody issued the sanction as he reversed an earlier decision by the Labor director to deny the application filed by Jaime Tenepere to employ alien worker Nestor C. De Vera.
Cody instructed the Division of Labor to resume processing the application as soon as the employer pays the fine.
Records showed that De Vera was employed by Sy’s Corp. under a nonresident work permit that expired on June 10, 2004. Under labor law, he had 45 days to find and transfer to a new employer.
De Vera found employer Tenepere, owner of Jimmie T.’s Restaurant, in mid-July, two weeks before his July 25, 2004 deadline. However, it took them another five weeks to gather the necessary documents and file a complete transfer application with Labor.
Tenepere filed the application on Sept. 24, 2004, or 39 days late.
In a Dec. 8 administrative order, Cody said that while the application was filed late, the employee did make a good faith effort to find work and indeed found the new employer within the 45-day he was given.
He disagreed with the Labor’s recommendation to affirm the denial and order the worker to depart the Commonwealth.
“This position was markedly different from the position the department took in other similar cases of late-filed applications. In those cases, the department recommended that the late application should be allowed to be filed, provided that a monetary sanction was paid,” Cody said.
He added, “Based on the facts, I believe that an equitable extension should be granted in this case and that the worker should not be punished for his prospective employer’s negligence.”
