Antonio Santos, a trades supervisor at KoES, said he accidentally injured and broke the bones of his left hand’s index finger while preparing tables for a school activity on April 15.
The injured finger was treated at the Commonwealth Health Center. An x-ray showed his finger’s interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal’s joints were broken so he filed a claim with WCC on April 21.
On May 21, Retirement Fund Administrator Mark Aguon told him his office, which administers WCC, could not process the disability claim because the CNMI government was not paying its dues.
“Please be advised that pursuant to the administrator letter dated April 16, 2009 to all department and activity heads and previous demand letters for prompt payment to the government employee’s self-insurance fund, failure to remit the appropriate funds is ground for WCC coverage denial for any government employee who become injured on the job,” Aguon wrote to Santos, a copy of which was provided to the Variety.
“Therefore, no workers’ compensation coverage exists for any government employees’ workplace injury or death who are employed by these noncontributing government employers. Until such time that your department remits the appropriate premium payments to the Government Self-Insurance Fund, WCC will be unable to process your claim,” he added.
Santos said he also brought up the matter to their school principal but she cannot do anything about it because of the existing policy.
Santos, who has been working for PSS for 26 years now, said it was the first time he figured in a work-related accident. His injured finger is still aching and he fears it may get worse.
He also fears for other government maintenance workers who may also encounter accidents while bush cutting or fixing electrical wires.
“I am working at PSS. We fix a lot of things in school but my case means I am not safe. We have no safety net in case of a work-related injury,” he said in a phone interview.
