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Senate: Curtail TWAs, prevent abuses of employees
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Posted on Feb 16 2005
Citing rampant incidence of frivolous complaints, the Senate favors “severe curtailment” in the issuance of temporary work authorization to nonresident workers.
The senators, in Senate Bill 14-83 that passed the chamber last Friday, said such action is necessary amid a recent “spate of insincere labor complaints.”
“Claims, and in some instances, entire complaints, have been determined to be frivolous,” it said, noting that such practice has unduly burdened small businesses and the government.
The bill, which primarily aims to amend the Nonresident Workers Act relating to employment contracts, also wants to impose a $10 copayment “to deter nonresident workers from seeking unneeded medical treatment that unnecessarily depletes the scarce resources of the Commonwealth’s medical providers and unduly burden employers.”
It said that employers need not shoulder every medical expenses incurred by a nonresident worker; “only medical expenses stemming from injury, illness, or disease.”
As for the garment industry, the bill prevents the lifting of the hiring moratorium. Instead, it said there is a need to codify procedures by which manufacturers may transfer unused slots. It said “flexibility” in hiring is needed to allow manufacturers to get workers when needed at any time.
Further, the measure aims to mandate the Department of Labor to develop a database of nonresident workers who have abandoned their jobs. At present, the department has no information on the number of runaway workers.
The bill also asks the department to meet with each garment manufacturer in the CNMI to discuss exit plans.
This must be done now when the industry is in “transition,” given the recent lifting of trade quotas worldwide.
The department, at a minimum, should know how final wages are to be paid to workers and manufacturers’ repatriation plans, the bill says.
