A hearing officer has reversed the denial determination on the labor application of a farm worker House Labor and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Herman T. Palacios is trying to hire, according to the Department of Labor and Immigration.
Hearing Officer Jerry Cody said it would be “unduly harsh” to deny the labor application of Wan Yun Chen, although it was untimely filed because she had no control over the events that led to her late filing.
Wan’s application was supposed to have been filed on March 3, 2002. However, Palacios’s daughter, Katrina P. Tagabuel, who is also his processing agent, failed to file it on time.
Tagabuel attempted to file it a month before the deadline. But the processing section refused to accept it unless she had a “written authorization letter” from Palacios, R-Saipan.
In March, Tagabuel inadvertently placed Wan’s application in one of the boxes she took when she left their house.
Three days after Wan’s deadline, Tagabuel found the application paper. She immediately went to DOLI and attempted to refile it. However, on April 17, it was rejected on grounds that it was not timely filed. An appeal followed.
Cody said Wan’s case have “special circumstances” similar to the labor case Trinity Estate, Inc. et. al. v. Director of Labor.
