SUPERIOR Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja has granted in part and denied in part the Department of Finance’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by former firefighters who received $1,000 in premium pay instead of $5,000.
The judge granted Finance’s motion to dismiss the first cause of action for judicial review of an administrative action.
The judge likewise granted Finance’s motion to dismiss the third cause of action for civil rights violation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
But the judge also directed the plaintiffs to file a second amended complaint no later than Dec. 26, 2023.
“The Second Amended Complaint shall specifically allege facts supporting an inference of subject matter jurisdiction under the Commonwealth Administrative Procedures Act,” Judge Naraja said.
Finance was directed to file an answer to the second amended complaint no later than Jan. 9, 2024.
According to the judge, the plaintiffs’ “equal protection claim is sufficiently pleaded to overcome the presumption of rationality and move forward with litigation.”
The judge also noted that based on the criteria for receiving premium pay, the plaintiffs qualified for $5,000 of premium pay.
The former firefighters are Paul T. Acebedo, Jose K. Angui, Allen T. Calvo, Cain C. Castro, Argernon A. Flores, Derek B. Gersonde, Shawn DLR Kaipat, Philip Kalen, and Adam J. Safer. Through attorney Joseph Horey, they filed a complaint of injunctive relief against then-Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig, and the Department of Finance
The new Finance secretary, Tracy Norita, has since replaced Atalig as respondent and defendant in the complaint.
The former firefighters are alleging denial of equal protection of the laws, and deprivation of civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Background
According to the lawsuit, on or about Dec. 29, 2021, then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced that the Department of Finance would release $5,000 premium pay for each CNMI government employee who had worked at least 40 hours to directly mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic.
As Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services employees, the plaintiffs said they had worked at least 40 hours to directly mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic.
Each of the plaintiffs filled out, and submitted to the Department of Finance, their respective applications for premium pay.
“Although each of the plaintiffs met all the qualifications for premium pay in the amount of $5,000, defendant approved premium pay for each of them in the amount of $1,000, rather than the full $5,000,” the lawsuit stated.
“Upon information and belief, the reason that plaintiffs were paid less than full premium pay was that they had been terminated from their government employment on or about May 21, 2021, after they had already performed the amount of direct pandemic mitigation work required to qualify for full premium payment,” the lawsuit added.
The former firefighters were terminated because of their refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine. They have filed a separate and pending lawsuit to request the court to reinstate them as firefighters.
