By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

EMPLOYEES of a local security agency — whose contract with its remaining client Commonwealth Utilities Corp. ended on Monday — are owed anywhere between $2,000 and $9,000 each in back wages for pay periods as far back as 2003, according to workers interviewed yesterday.
Island Security Service Inc. did not pay its employees for six pay periods in 2006 alone.
In prior years, the security agency missed payments for two or three payrolls, but workers now have to contend with the statute of limitations for wages owed years ago.
Besides owing thousands of dollars in back wages, Island Security Service also did not allow its employees to have their entry/work permit cards since 2003.
“The last time I had my entry permit card was in 2002. Since 2003, we were only given a copy of a receipt showing that our renewal documents were with Labor,” one of them said.
Prior to 2003, Island Security Service would also take employees’ entry permit cards when they went on vacation, workers said.
“They skipped paying for other pay periods. They would pay us one month and the following month, nothing — until the back wages accumulated. Sometimes if they gave us checks for previous pay periods, the bank would no longer accept the checks so we had to wait for the next pay period,” one of the employees said.
For example, the employees have yet to receive payment for work performed from Oct. 1 to Dec. 9, 2006.
However, they were paid for the pay period Dec. 10 to Dec. 23, 2006.
“But we received our checks for this pay period only on Jan. 3, 2007. So we spent Christmas and New Year without pay…we’re still waiting for our back wages,” another one said.
At least 12 of the workers have sought the help of the federal labor ombudsman’s office in filing a formal complaint against ISSI with the CNMI Department of Labor.
Others, including those owed up to $9,000, hired a private lawyer to represent them in their case against the employer.
The interviewed security guards, mostly paid $3.05 an hour, requested that their names be withheld at this time for fear of “retaliation.”
“Our employer said the reason for the delays was late payments by clients so we waited thinking we’d soon be paid if the clients did. But when we learned that the contract with CUC, which was our last client, ended on Jan. 22 and we no longer had clients, we knew there was no way we could get our back wages if we remained silent about it. Up to now, the management has not told us if the company will remain open,” said another employee.
CUC spokeswoman Pamela Mathis yesterday confirmed that CUC’s security service contract with Island Security Service Inc. expired on Jan. 22, 2007. Since Jan. 16, 2007, CUC’s security services contractor has been GTS Security Services, she said.
Island Security Service president Joaquin V. Guerrero could not be reached for comment.
The interviewed employees, aged 48 to over 60, said they want to transfer to another employer.
They said their employer earlier indicated to some of them that he would be willing to release them to another employer if they wanted to, but the employer could not guarantee they would be paid the money owed to them before they are released by Island Security Service.
Besides CUC, Island Security Service’s former clients included the Nikko Hotel and garment factories including MGM and US CNMI Garment.