Three Chinese workers sue employers

Three Chinese workers have filed a lawsuit in federal court against two affiliated companies and their Korean owners for alleged labor violations, including nonpayment of overtime and applicable minimum wage and illegal salary deductions.

One of the workers, Li Ying Hua, complained of sexual harassment against businessman Kim Hang Kwon, while the two others, Xu Jing Ji and Li Zheng Zhe, said they were terminated from work without cause and proper notice.

Lawyer Mark B. Hanson filed the suit on behalf of the workers against Kim, Park Hwa Sun, and their companies, Jung Jin Corp. and Asia Enterprises, Inc.

Hanson asked the court to award the workers unpaid wages and overtime and the cost of illegal deductions and other monetary damages.

Based on the complaint, Li Zheng Zhe, the only male complainant, had legally worked for the defendants since May 2002, while Xu began her employment with the defendants sometime in December 2003.

Their latest one-year employment contracts were supposed to expire on Jan. 24, 2006. Hanson said the defendants terminated the two workers’ contracts without cause and proper notice on April 25, 2005.

The lawyer said that Li Ying Hua, whose employment with the defendant began in April 2003, was indirectly terminated from work by making her continued employment intolerable, accusing Kim of sexually harassing the worker, whose latest employment contract was supposed to expire on Jan. 14, 2006.

Hanson said the defendants never provided the workers a copy of their respective employment contracts. He accused the companies of failing to pay the workers the applicable minimum wage of $3.05 per hour on all hours of work they had rendered.

The lawyer also accused the companies of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and the CNMI’s Minimum Wage and Hour Act by allegedly failing to pay the workers overtime for work rendered beyond 40 hours per week. The companies allegedly failed to maintain full and accurate records of the hours actually rendered by the workers.

“Throughout her term of employment with defendants, Ms. Li was provided housing by defendants at a cost to Ms. Li of $150 per month, which was deducted by [the] defendants from her salary,” Hanson said. “Mr. Li and Ms. Xu were provided housing by defendants at a cost to them of $150 per month.”

He also said that the companies would deduct various amounts from the workers’ salaries representing labor contract processing fees and cash register shortages. The lawyer said the defendants violated the Nonresident Workers Act and effectively decreased the workers’ wages below the mandatory minimum wage level.

The lawyer also said the defendants breached the workers’ employment contracts by illegally terminating them from work.