By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

ANOTHER employer has abandoned a worker.
Labor Hearing Officer Jerry Cody said Sharlene Cepeda, owner and operator of PJ’s Market in Kagman as of July 2006, moved to the U.S. without making arrangements to cancel the contract of or transfer her worker, Emily N. Taguibao.
Cody, in a four-page administrative order dated March 26, awarded Taguibao a total of $8,296 for unpaid wages and liquidated damages.
The hearing officer also sanctioned Cepeda $500 for “serious labor law violations and permanently disqualified (her) from employing nonresident workers in the commonwealth.”
If Cepeda fails to pay the award in a timely manner, Cody said the director of the Division of Labor is requested to notify the bonding company, Royal Crown Insurance Corp., to either pay the wage proceeds of the particular labor bond or file an objection stating its defense to a claim made for wage proceeds of the bond.
Cepeda filed a permit expiration transfer application to hire Taguibao as a commercial cleaner on July 6, 2006.
On that same day, the Division of Labor approved a conditional grant of transfer for this employment. The conditional grant, once approved, obligated the employer to begin employing complainant immediately. However, Cepeda told Taguibao to wait until her permit was issued before starting work.
Cepeda departed the CNMI on Aug. 16, 2006, and has not returned since that time, based on a Border Management System report.
Cody said Cepeda failed to notify Labor or Taguibao that she was departing the CNMI and relocating to the U.S. mainland.
On Feb. 14, Labor issued its determination which concluded that Cepeda had breached the contract and violated the Nonresident Workers Act by abandoning her worker without advance notice, by failing to notify the Division of Labor that she was leaving the CNMI and transferring her business operations, and failing to make arrangements for the proper transfer of Taguibao to a new employer.
Cody also granted Taguibao’s request for transfer relief. Cody gave the complainant 45 days or up to May 10, 2007 to find a transfer employer.
In recent months, many employers have abandoned workers (also owed wages) and committed other labor violations.