Governor exempts 435 from hiring moratorium

Gov. Juan N. Babauta approved a total of 435 exemptions from the existing nonresident hiring moratorium in 2004. This is about half the total number of applications for exemptions submitted to the Executive Branch last year.

In documents submitted to the Legislature, Babauta said that his office received 860 requests for exemptions from various companies and employers from January to December 2004.

He denied 417 of them while less than 20 are pending processing.

Governor press secretary Peter A. Callaghan said the number of exemptions from the moratorium law, Public Law 11-6, is not really high, noting that in previous years, an average of 1,000 exemptions were granted a year.

“Since we have established control in the last couple of years on this, the number has gone down to where in 2001, it was over a thousand,” he said.

Control measures, he said, include the government’s use of the Department of Labor’s official handbook to categorize professionals and requiring companies to look first among local workers.

“We are making the companies look at the local market first. They didn’t always do that,” Callaghan said.

He said the government has been strict with the companies, making sure that they follow the procedures set forth by DOL such as advertising the jobs.

“We’re enforcing the law more than in the past,” he said.

Callaghan said the exemptions last year included renewals for certain professionals who had chosen to leave the island.

Records showed that in December 2004, the governor approved the exemptions of 40 individuals and denied 41 others.

Those exempted included sales engineers, chefs, sales managers, accountants, translators, private duty nurses, carpenters, concreting supervisors, wielding technicians, electricians, travel managers, tourist information assistants, hotel managers, computer programmers, operation managers, acupuncturists, physical therapists, adult education teachers, sports instructor, and warehouse managers.

P.L. 11-6 requires the governor to notify the Legislature of the actions taken on each application for exemption.

During his term, then Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio expressed confidence that all exemptions he made had met the criteria, noting that applications were thoroughly reviewed by labor officials.

He had also justified that exemptions were needed to ensure undisrupted operations in the private sector.