IMPERIAL Pacific International LLC and the United States Department of Labor on Tuesday requested the federal court to modify the consent judgment that it approved on April 11, 2019 through a stipulation.
IPI and the USDOL filed a stipulation stating that the “defendants have substantially come current on the payment of their payroll and are in the process of determining the full extent of their liability to their employees from June 1 to February 28, 2021.”
According to the stipulation, IPI “represents and agrees that at least $47,856 in wages are still due to IPI employees and admit that they owe the fund to the employees and have failed to purge contempt as to at least $47,856 of wages.”
IPI will work with the USDOL in confirming the exact amount of any and all Fair Labor Standards Act liability that remains unpaid to IPI workers. “If additional liability is found, the parties shall enter into a further amendment of the consent judgment providing for the payment of the full amount owed,” the stipulation stated.
The total amount owed by IPI under the consent judgment was $3,360,000.
According to the stipulation of the parties, IPI paid a total of $1,929,425.28 towards the consent judgment from March 2019 to March 2021.
In the stipulation, IPI affirms and consents to the modification of the amounts due under the consent judgment.
The remaining balance from the previous consent judgment is $1,430,574 plus $47,856 wages currently owed for a total amount of $1,478,430.72 due in the first amended consent judgment.
To purge contempt and to pay the amounts remaining on the initial consent judgment and the unpaid total for work periods 21-26 and 1-3, IPI is ordered to make incremental monthly payments of $164,270.08 from April 1, 2021 to December 1, 2021 for a total amount of $1,478,430.08.
IPI also owes additional payments to its employees that it will pay directly to its employees outside of this agreement in eight equal installments.
As to the security against future payroll violations, the USDOL stated that IPI paid $250,000 on Feb. 28, 2021 to be used as security for the payment of current wages.
The USDOL noted that IPI’s payroll obligations are currently significantly smaller in part because of the stop work order in construction at the hotel-casino site in Garapan.
“Before the construction stop work order can be lifted, IPI will deposit an additional amount with the USDOL to ensure it holds at least three months of anticipated payroll…. If the amount held as security deposit falls below the required amount and is not replenished by IPI within 10 business days, the construction stop work order will be automatically reimposed upon [15 days’] written notice to IPI and to the court,” the stipulation stated.
A security deposit will be held for a period of one year from the entry of the first amendment judgment to ensure against any failure by IPI to meet its payroll obligations during the year.
At the end of the one-year period, the amount remaining will be applied by the USDOL to any amounts due to the department from IPI for any case investigated by the Wage and Hour Division.
IPI is still under an obligation to cover its regular payroll obligations and not rely on this account to cover any shortfalls, the stipulation stated.
IPI has offered the Flame Tree Terrace property, which it owns through an affiliate, East Gain Global Ltd., as security for its monetary liability of $1,478,430.08.
According to the stipulation, if the Flame Tree property is not available or its value insufficient to cover the full amount of the first amended consent judgment, IPI will identify additional security within 30 days of the entry of the consent judgment as amended.
In the event of default, the full gross amount outstanding under the consent judgment as amended, plus post-judgment interest, “shall be immediately due.”
If IPI fails to cure the default within five business days, the USDOL will notify the court of the failure, and within 10 days the court-appointed receiver is authorized to exercise all powers under the appointment of receivership to sell IPI’s assets including but not limited to the Flame Tree property to pay the total judgment.
The receivership ordered by the court will remain suspended until such time the USDOL files a notice of failure to cure default.
But the court will reinstate the receivership to enforce compliance with the judgment if IPI fails to comply and cure within 10 days after a notice of failure to cure default is filed.
The stipulation added that IPI and its affiliate, East Gain Global, waive all objections and explicitly consent to the reinstatement of the receivership under these terms.
“Should defendants fully comply with this first amended consent judgment and make all of the payments required hereunder, then on Dec 1, 2021, the secretary [of the USDOL] shall cause to be filed a satisfaction of judgment.”
District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona earlier ordered IPI and IPI chairwoman Cui Li Jie to purge their contempt of court by, among other things, paying $1,182,793 owed by IPI as back wages under the 2019 consent judgment.
The judge also issued a stop work order at the IPI construction site, and appointed Guam attorney Joyce Tang as receiver for IPI.
IPI attorney Michael Dotts told Variety that if his client and the USDOL reach an agreement, then there will be no need to go into receivership.
