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New policy for vacationing alien workers questioned
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Posted on May 15 2008
The Department of Labor should have announced to the public before implementing the new policy that requires vacationing alien workers to notify Labor about their exit, according to the leader of a foreign worker’s group.
Irene Tantiado, president of Coalition of United Workers, told Saipan Tribune yesterday that the new policy is not difficult to comply with, but Labor should at least explain its purpose to make people understand.
“What effort did they make to explain it to the public? It’s purpose is not clear at all!” she said.
Tantiado said she received information on Wednesday that a nurse was not allowed to enter Saipan because he or she failed to notify Labor about his or her exit.
She said it is so easy to follow the regulations, but the non-announcement has serious consequences to the guest workers.
“I called Labor and they told me it’s only for data base,” Tantiado said.
Labor public education and outreach director Rose Ada-Hocog on Wednesday confirmed about the implementation of the new policy. She said a foreign national worker who fails to file notice to Labor about his or her exit before departing the CNMI may be precluded from entering the Commonwealth.
Ada-Hocog said under Section 5 of the Labor Rules and Regulations pursuant to Public Law 15-108 states that “a foreign national worker who exits during the term of an approved employment contract shall file, with the (Labor) enforcement division, a notice on the standard form provided by the Department.”
She, however, did not say when did Labor start implementing the policy.
Asked by Saipan Tribune yesterday on the exact date of the implementation, Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas said it only started on Monday.
San Nicolas said Labor director Barry Hirshbein can answer all the questions about that new policy.
Saipan Tribune repeatedly contacted Hirsbein, but he was not available.
