THE Department of Labor and Immigration needs at least three more lawyers to effectively carry out its legal responsibilities and duties, according to DOLI Secretary Jack A. Tenorio.
Tenorio said at least one more hearing officer is needed at the Administrative Hearing Office to complement the efforts of the three hearing officers. He said the assistant attorneys general assigned to DOLI for labor and immigration matters are not detailed at the department’s office.
DOLI has to request for the presence of the assistant attorneys general before they can be allowed to work for the department.
“We would like to have another hearing officer. And of course, we would like to have one attorney for labor, one attorney for immigration and one civil case attorney,” Tenorio told Variety.
“We have assistant attorneys general but they are not here. They are up at the AG’s office. If we have some pending issues, we would have to write to the AG to make available an assistant attorney general to come down to us,” he added.
From January to November 2001, DOLI conducted 521 hearings, involving about 302 various labor cases, government statistics showed.
The hearing office awarded more than $600,000 to the complaining workers and fined an undetermined number of employers $53,375 in civil penalties.
