Northern Marianas dismisses labor cases of OFWs

SAN ANTONIO, Saipan - Many overseas Filipino workers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) lost their chance of claiming wages from their employers after the CNMI government closed the labor cases involving OFWs.

Data from the CNMI’s Department of Labor showed that 336 labor cases involving alien workers had either been closed or dismissed by the government. Forty one percent or 139 of the cases involved OFWs.

The 139 cases had to do with the non-payment of regular and overtime wages of OFWs, as well as their delayed salaries, illegal sponsorship, and abandonment by their employers.

According to the department, the dismissal or closure of the cases means that the OFWs’ claims that include financial damages and eligibility for transfer were either decided or dismissed.

"In each case, this is a final action by the administrative hearing office," the department said.

It was not clear whether the cases that were decided or adjudicated favored the OFWs or their employers. The labor agency has sped up the closures and dismissals of these kinds of cases since 2006. Previously, thousands of labor cases as old as 10 years remained unsolved.

Many of the workers in these cases are now working for other employers in the CNMI. They receive a minimum wage of $4.05 an hour.

Initial information from the Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office shows that employers in the CNMI still owe overseas workers $1.6 million. The office is a US agency that assists foreign workers in filing labor cases against their employers in the Northern Marianas.

The CNMI, a 14-island US territory in the Western Pacific, is home to some 19,000 documented foreign workers who are mostly Filipinos and Chinese. - Haidee V. Eugenio, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more