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DOL still faces backlog in labor cases
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Posted on Feb 03 2006
The Department of Labor still faces a backlog in hearing labor cases partly due to lack of full time investigators and hearing officers according to federal ombudsman Jim Benedetto.
The ombudsman, who works closely with the department mainly on workers’ labor complaints, said during yesterday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce’ meeting that six or seven additional investigators and three additional hearing offices should be hired “to get the job done.”
Currently, he said that the department has only one full time hearing officer and a part-time hearing officer whose short-term contract expires in few months.
“There’s a backlog [in the hearing office],” he said.
He could not immediately say the exact number of pending labor cases, but he said there are cases that are over a year old.
About 15 months ago, there were 80 of these unresolved cases, some of them had been filed since 1997.
The department receives some 500 cases every year.
Benedetto said he understands that the government has limited resources due to the economic downturn but he noted that the business community contributes $9 million annually in nonresident workers applications to fund the department.
He based this on 30,000 nonresident workers times $300 per head in employment application fees.
He said the department could keep enough of these funds to do its job. (Liberty Dones)
