IMPERIAL Pacific International LLC is contacting all former H-2B employees who previously refused repatriation to determine if they would like to reconsider, IPI attorney Michael Dotts said in the casino investor’s 17th status report to the District Court for the NMI.
Essentially all H-2B employees of IPI have now been repatriated and therefore housing and food services are no longer an issue, Dotts said.
However, there are “six Taiwanese who refused repatriation, claiming that they had a new employer.” They have remained in IPI housing and IPI has continued to provide them housing, Dotts said.
“IPI is working to resolve the issues with these individuals so that they either leave to find their own housing if in fact they have a new employer, or accept repatriation by IPI,” he added.
As for Payroll 10, it was distributed on Friday, May 7, in full, and without incident, Dotts said. “IPI’s next payday is May 21, 2021 (Payroll 11).”
The IPI attorney also stated that the third monthly settlement payment will be due on June 1, and that construction work at the IPI resort in Garapan remains suspended as ordered by the court.
On March 29, 2021, District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona approved the first amended consent judgment between IPI and the U.S. Department of Labor. She also suspended her previously ordered receivership for the casino developer.
According to the stipulation of USDOL and IPI, the casino investor paid a total of $1,929,425.28 toward the consent judgment from March 2019 to March 2021. The remaining balance from the previous consent judgment was $1,430,574 plus $47,856 wages currently owed for a total amount of $1,478,430.
To purge contempt and to pay the amounts remaining in the initial consent judgment as well as the unpaid payroll for work periods 21-26 and 1-3, IPI was ordered to make incremental monthly payments of $164,270.08 from April 1, 2021 to Dec. 1, 2021 for a total amount of $1,478,430.72.
IPI has remitted the April and May payments.
