DOL fines grocery store $2K for non-submission of documents

The CNMI Department of Labor has fined Double Lee Corp. after it failed to comply with the department’s request for documents.

A $2,000 fine was ordered by DOL’s Administrative Hearing Office through an order signed by hearing officer Jerry Cody.

The Hearing Office sanctioned Double Lee Corp. after it twice failed to submit requested documents.

In April, DOL’s Enforcement Section requested Double Lee Corp., which does business as Green Consume Market in As Lito, to produce eight types of documents within 10 business days. These are current total workforce listing, copies of employer’s quarterly withholding tax reports for four quarters, payroll records for four quarters, a letter of compliance issued by the Division of Revenue and Taxation, a business license, an annual corporate report, and a sketched map to the business location.

The corporation failed to provide these documents. Two months later, in June, investigators from the Enforcement Section made a second request to Double Lee Corp. Once again, it failed to submit the documents.

Due to this, a hearing was scheduled for Aug. 4 but this had to be rescheduled following Typhoon Soudelor.

The fine requested by the Enforcement Section was $4,000 but was levied by the hearing officer under Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007.

Double Lee Corp. was sanctioned $2,000, half of which must be paid no less than 30 days after the issuance of the order and the other half shall be suspended for two years and then extinguished if the employer commits no further violation.

According to the order, “If the respondent fails to comply with the terms of this order it shall be subject to a reinstatement filed by the Enforcement Section.”