THE Department of Labor and Immigration has sanctioned an employer who failed to pay a foreign worker $1,200 in backwages within the prescribed period.
The employer now has to pay the worker $2,400, DOLI said.
According to DOLI papers, Eleodoro N. Quezada failed to pay the three final payments amounting to $1,200 that he owed Demetrio B. Balgoa based on the stipulated agreement they signed last year.
Last month, Baldoa informed the Hearing Office that Quezada had failed to pay him. Hearing Officer Jerry Cody then summoned Quezada to a hearing, which the employer did not attend.
“Respondent’s failure to appear at the continued hearing even after requesting and being granted a three-week continuance appears to evidence willful conduct on his part, thus, further justifying an award of liquidated damages,” Cody said.
“Pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement, respondent is…ordered to pay additional liquidated damages in an amount equal to the remaining unpaid balance of the settlement agreement ($1,200). Liquidated damages shall also be paid to the complainant no later than 15 days after the issuance of this order,” Cody said.
The administrative decision can still be appealed before the secretary of labor and immigration within 15 days after April 17.
