Labor bars company from hiring new alien workers

The Department of Labor has sanctioned a company for failing to correct deficiencies and employing three alien workers for months without Labor’s authorization.

Labor Administrative Hearing Officer Jerry Cody ordered Rui Jin Trading Corp. to pay a $300 fine and barred the company from hiring new foreign workers for a period of two years.

Cody granted the requests of two workers—Qiying Jiang and Juan Zhao—to transfer to new employers.

Cody denied transfer relief to the third worker, Zheng Zin Lu, after determining that she made false testimony and submitted fake documents.

The hearing officer directed Rui Jin Trading to provide a repatriation ticket for Lu within 15 days from May 29.

Saipan Tribune learned that Lu appealed.

Cody reversed the Labor director’s decision that denied the permit renewal application filed by the company for its store cashier, Jingjing Gao.

According to Labor records, Rui Jin Trading operates a retail store and Internet service in Garapan, Saipan.

The business is essentially managed by assistant manager Rui Tong Chen. Chen’s wife, Jingjing Gao, works in the employer’s store as a cashier.

On April 24, 2007, Rui Jin Trading filed applications to hire three more alien workers for this business. Zheng Qin Lu was hired as an accountant; Qiyang Jiang was hired as a commercial cleaner; and Juan Zhao was hired as a “merchandise displayer.”

In July 2007, Labor approved conditional grants of transfer for each worker.

That same year, Labor issued deficiency notices, requesting the employer’s updated financial documentation such as Business Gross Revenue Tax records and withholding tax documents for 2007.

Rui Jin Trading did not produce the documents, prompting the Labor director to deny the applications.

The company and the four workers appealed.

In his order, Cody said that, at the hearing, the employer offered no reasonable excuse for its failure to provide the financial documents in 2007 when the Labor Processing Section requested the information.

However, Cody said, the employer produced at the hearing its BGRT records for a limited portion of 2007.

Cody said the evidence shows that Rui Jin Trading lacked sufficient funds in 2007 to pay the wages for each of these appellant-workers.

Additionally, the hearing officer said, the testimony established that this employer does not need the services of a full-time accountant, commercial cleaner or merchandise displayer.

He said the testimony also established that Lu had fabricated her work history as an accountant.

“Lu entered the CNMI as a masseuse and at that time, never mentioned that she had any prior education or experience as an accountant,” he noted.

Under questioning, Cody said, Lu was not able to define even basic accounting principles such as liabilities or capital gains.

“The testimony supports a finding that Lu perpetrated a fraud in asserting that she is a qualified accountant,” he said.

Finally, Cody said, all three transfer employees testified that they began working for Rui Jin Trading in April 2007, even though their conditional grants were not approved until July 10, 2007.

“In employing these workers without authorization or permission for three months, the employer violated the Nonresident Workers Act,” he said.