SAYING that they may lose their jobs, Bank of Saipan employees gathered yesterday at the law firm of Calvo & Clark to seek help, claiming that they had not been paid their salary since the bank’s closure.
David C. Sablan, the bank’s chief lending officer, says there are indications that it may take two to three years before the bank’s problems are resolved, and that there are no plans regarding the employees.
The employees also demanded the removal of the court-appointed receiver, attorney Randy Fennell. Fennell has a conflict of interest since he was involved in the probate of the estate of Larry Hillblom, one of the bank’s major shareholders, Sablan said.
“I believe that there is an express concerted effort to bring the bank back as soon as possible. But it appears that Fennell is not toward that direction,” Sablan said.
In a statement to Variety, Fennell said there is “no immediate plan to lay off any employee.”
He said the bank’s employees will be employed at their same salary and wage scale. They will also continue to receive health care and dental coverage and would still be eligible for 401 contributions.
Fennel said that though the employees “would face reduced work hours, each…would be eligible to work 20 hours a week.”
“We understand that the employees are under stress, and may have been getting bad advice from parties who have their own agenda,” Fennell said.
Sablan said he got “a message from inside the bank that they are suing the directors. They are suing a lot of other people. Which means in our opinion, as employees of the bank, they would continue to drain the bank. That would take them two to three years down the road before they resolve all this mess.”
The employees said they were unable to financially support their families because of the bank’s closure. They are also having difficulty finding jobs due to the economic crisis.
“The fact of the matter is that since the closure of Bank of Saipan, most employees were left out in the dark without any means of communication from the bank nor from the receiver,” Sablan said. He was the running mate of former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio in the November elections.
“For the record, none of us have been paid. Our payroll got stuck in the bank. We are now on second payroll,” he added.
Calvo & Clark is the legal counsel for the bank’s board of directors. The employees also want to be represented by the same firm.
The bank has been closed for the past 17 days. But it was only last Wednesday that the receiver called for a staff meeting through Thomas D. Schoen, the chief operating officer, it was learned.
“Tom Schoen called for a staff meeting. But the call was basically to tell them more bad news. Such as to tell them that most of them will not be called back to work. But there was no plan for those who will not be called,” Sablan told Variety.
After the meeting, the staff immediately formed their own group and signed a petition letter demanding several things.
Among these is Schoen’s termination and that of their marketing manager which the employees described as “excess baggage.”
They are also asking the bank to implement a 10 percent across the board cut in salary pay so that all 46 employees of the bank would be able to keep their jobs.
For those who would voluntarily leave the bank, the employees demanded that they be given a severance pay equivalent to their two months salary.
Maggie Mendiola, a bookkeeper, said the bank was demanding that they pay their loans. She said most bank employees were able to get loans from their company.
However, they have not been paid for the past 15 days and have no means to meet their financial obligation, she said.
“How are we going to pay that loan?” she asked.
Tiara Evangelista, a teller and new accounts clerk, is eight months pregnant and is worried about her family’s future. She is scheduled to give birth next month but like Mendiola she is having financial problems.
“It’s been hard financially. I was hoping we would all get hired back,” Evangelista said. She has been working with Bank of Saipan for more than three years.
Sablan said they are recommending another person to replace Fennell but he refused to divulge his—or her—name.
The group gave the government until May 20 to act on their demands. Sablan said their ultimate option is to seek legal assistance if their demands are not met.
