In his order, Hearing Officer Jerry Cody said that Chaoying Ruan, who worked for Sam Kwang Saipan Corp., is permanently disqualified from working as a foreign national in the commonwealth.
Cody said Ruan left the CNMI on Jan. 10, 2009 and did not inform the hearing office of her departure.
She is presumed to have abandoned her attempt at obtaining transfer relief.
Ruan’s request for transfer relief is denied, Cody said.
He added that Ruan was found to have filed a “frivolous” complaint, which constitutes grounds for denial of transfer relief under the Nonresident Workers Act and the new labor law, P.L. 15-108.
The hearing office said Ruan admitted that she only filed the complaint after she decided that she wanted transfer relief.
Ruan also admitted someone informed her that the way to obtain a transfer was to file a claim.
“The circumstantial evidence clearly points to a conclusion that the real reason for making this claim was to generate a legal claim that could then be bargained away for a transfer,” Cody said in his order.
He said Ruan admitted she received the transfer order and knew she had a chance to transfer to a new employer, but she did not look for work at that time because she wanted to return to China.
Hearing Officer Herbert D. Soll issued an order granting transfer relief to 144 workers of Sam Kwang, including Ruan.
Each worker was granted 45 days from Jan. 20, 2008 in which to submit an application for transfer to a new employer.
Sam Kwang announced to its workforce that it would permanently close the factory on Jan. 20, 2008.
On April 28, 2008, Ruan drafted her letter complaint, claiming that while working at Sam Kwang, her “line leader always pushed her to reach certain production targets in 2006 and 2007.”
She said she worked off the clock for a certain portion of time every day in 2006 and 2007.
Ruan claimed that she felt such pressure in meeting the employer’s production deadlines that she worked about 15 minutes during her lunch breaks.
But based on the record, the hearing office concluded that all of Ruan’s claims were time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations.
