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Chamber to study proposal on 2-year alien worker contracts
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Posted on Mar 20 2006
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce has taken no official position yet on the proposal to make two-year contracts mandatory in the employment of nonresident workers, but said the matter would be studied.
Chamber president Charles Cepeda said the association’s government relations committee would study the proposal and get the consensus of its members.
Attorney General Matthew Gregory reportedly disclosed that his office was drafting the proposed legislation to cut down paperwork at the Department of Labor. The proposal will cover all industries.
Usually, employment contracts involving nonresident workers, which undergo approval by the Labor Department, have renewable one-year terms.
Gregory reportedly said that the proposal, if enacted into law, would reduce the workload of Labor Department personnel who process work permit applications for nonresident workers, and allow them to handle enforcement and other areas where the department has been having backlogs.
Under the proposal, labor fees will remain at the same rate of $275 per worker per year, but a two-year fee will have to be paid in advance once the two-year employment contracts for nonresidents become mandatory.
