{"id":326192,"date":"2020-07-10T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=326192"},"modified":"2020-07-10T06:00:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T20:00:29","slug":"benavente-responds-to-kilili-comments-on-pua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/benavente-responds-to-kilili-comments-on-pua\/","title":{"rendered":"Benavente responds to Kilili comments on PUA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente responded Wednesday to the comments of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) regarding the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation programs.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Benavente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI wish that Congressman Kilili had come to me directly and respond[ed] to my letter to discuss the PUA and FPUC programs and to ensure the eligibility of CW workers.\u00a0 Both Gov. [Ralph DLG] Torres and I have continued to advocate for this from the onset of the federal assistance programs,\u201d said Benavente. \u201cWe have asked and received the federal eligibility requirements from the U.S. Department of Labor, which has taken the position that CW workers do not qualify for the PUA and FPUC programs. In addition to my letter to the congressman, I have personally spoken to his key staff to clarify with the U.S. Department of Labor weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the urgency to get PUA checks out has been the No. 1 priority of the governor and the department\u2019s motivation to release checks to approved applications as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single day, our staff here at the CNMI Department of Labor are working around the clock to process claims, assist applicants in completing applications, and answering inquiries as best as we can. We have always understood the urgency in this. Given the applications we have seen so far, we want to get these checks out immediately, but we are limited by our federal guidelines in order to ensure full compliance and approval of applications,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you are well aware, Guam received their PUA funding two weeks prior to the CNMI.\u00a0Guam released the first batch of their payments just last week.\u00a0 As noted, we are ready to release the first batch of our checks within the next few days, and thus are on the same time track with regard to the release of PUA checks,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Benavente acknowledged the challenges to ensure compliance with federal guidelines, as well as with the HireMarianas web portal, which has also seen similar challenges in Guam, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia in their web portals, which is a shared server among the U.S. Pacific territories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been challenges, and we have worked very hard with the portal developers to immediately address them.\u00a0 As you are also well aware, the CNMI DOL has had to work closely through this entire process with the USDOL,\u201d Benavente said. \u201cThere are very strict guidelines with regard to information collection, application development and application protocols.\u00a0 The CNMI DOL was required to create an online application portal and put in place a telephone and in-person application protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to accomplish this, we also needed to train current staff and bring on and train reassigned public workers.\u00a0 Even the specific printers, ink, and paper checks required by the U.S. Department of Treasury had to be sourced and ordered.\u00a0 And all of this had to be done in the midst of a pandemic where protocols for the health and safety of staff and the public were put in place, which meant designing a set-up that was primarily open-air,\u201d said Benavente.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not removed from the tremendous financial hardships many are facing during this pandemic.\u00a0We live here.\u00a0Many are our own family members and friends.\u00a0 We hear from them every day, and our staff here at CNMI DOL have worked hard to get the program up and running for them and the many other families who need this assistance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benavente further noted that there was never a formal response to her regarding Sablan\u2019s comments about the eligibility of CW workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGov. Torres, our business community, and CNMI DOL have advocated for the eligibility of CW workers because they are a vital part of our community and our economy, so we were pleased when Congressman Sablan provided the assurance in an April 9, 2020, news article that CWs are eligible. However, when we asked for guidance from USDOL, they said that they are not eligible\u2014which was contrary to what our congressman claimed. We have asked the congressional office for assistance, but they haven\u2019t formally responded to our request for clarification,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benavente assures the disbursement of PUA checks by CNMI DOL in an expedient manner that is compliant with USDOL.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the USDOL has been proactive partners in this effort, the call for expediency in processing PUA and FPUC on the federal level is of utmost importance to the people of the CNMI.\u00a0 I thank [Rep. Raul] Grijalva (D-AZ) and [Rep. Bobby] Scott (D-VA) for their assistance and aid to the CNMI to work through the processes on the federal side and also to achieve a favorable finding on the eligibility of our CW workers for this important program,\u201d she said. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente responded Wednesday to the comments of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":326190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}