Most alien workers successful in seeking transfer

Most of the alien workers who sought administrative orders from the Department of Labor to transfer to new employers were successful in their requests.

Labor administrative hearing officer Jerry Cody told Saipan Tribune that their office granted transfer requests to two-thirds of alien workers who sought transfer.

Cody said guest workers who want to move to another employers don’t have to worry as long as they have found suitable employers.

“The safer route for transfer is to the established business, assuming it doesn’t have a history of problems,” Cody said.

He said he realizes that sometimes workers don’t always know whether the employer that’s offering them the job has a history of problems.

“In the cases where the department [Labor] is lodging an objection and after the objection hearing the employer is actually prohibited from hiring that worker, the worker is always given a second chance to look for another employer,” Cody said.

Since the early part of this year, Labor’s administrative hearing office has been receiving a lot of applications from alien workers who are seeking transfer to new employers.

Under the new system, a transfer to a new employer may be made only by an administrative order issued by a Labor hearing officer.