Labor Deputy Secretary Cinta Kaipat said this rule prevents an employer from canceling unilaterally the contract of guest worker who left the commonwealth for a vacation or for medical treatment.
The employer cannot claim that the guest worker abandoned his or her job, Kaipat said.
“We can show the record that the guest worker left for vacation or medical treatment, and is not abandoning his or her job,” she added.
Irene Tantiado, president of the Coalition of United Workers (NMI), earlier said the new rule may prevent a guest worker from returning to the commonwealth.
But Immigration Director Melvin Grey said guest workers who failed to notify Labor when they left the CNMI can still come back.
The exit rule is only a “component” of a survey being conducted by of Labor, Grey said.
Kaipat said the new rule has been misinterpreted and it was never designed to prevent nonresident workers from coming back to CNMI.
