Labor grants worker’s TWA request

The Department of Labor Hearing Office has reversed the denial of a nonresident worker’s application for a temporary work authorization after the worker and her employer submitted the necessary requirements.

The Division of Labor had denied the TWA application filed by King’s International Jewelry, on behalf of worker Jin Hong, due to missing requirements.

King’s International and Jin Hong appealed the denial and their case was heard twice last month.

At the first hearing, held on June 17, King’s International was instructed to provide certain documents to complete the TWA application. These documents include an updated business license, updated business gross revenue tax withholding, and a listing of nonresident and resident employees.

At the June 22 hearing, the Division of Labor’s supervisor for TWA applications, Mary Laine Togawa, testified that King’s International had fully complied with all the requirements.

Togawa added that the division could now process and approve the TWA application.

“The decision of the Director of Labor to deny the TWA application submitted for appellant employee Jin Hong is reversed. The department shall continue with the processing of the application in accordance with normal processing procedures,” Labor hearing officer Cinta Kaipat said in an administrative order.

In related news, the Hearing Office granted another nonresident worker 45 days to transfer to a new employer, after she and a prospective employer withdrew an employment application they had filed with Labor.

This came as Kaipat affirmed the denial of the application submitted by employer Stephen Woodruff to hire Miriam Mangabat.

The application had been denied because it had two deficiencies: the worker’s failure to comply with the original work and entry permit, and failure to provide employer’s withholding tax for four quarters.

Woodruff and Mangabat appealed the denial.

At the June 21 hearing, the parties sought to cancel the application, saying they no longer wished to enter into an employment relationship with one another.

“The cancellation of the application rendered the deficiency issues moot,” Kaipat noted. Accordingly, she said, the denial should be affirmed and Mangabat given a chance to find a transfer employer. (Agnes E. Donato)