District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona will hear the USDOL petition on Jan. 21, 2021 at 8:30 a.m.
In its eight-page petition for contempt and for an order for IPI to show cause, the USDOL accused IPI executives of unlawfully requiring stranded employees to work without pay during a global pandemic, and failing to meet the workers’ basic necessities or provide for their return to their home countries.
The petition noted that the USDOL on Nov. 22, 2020 debarred IPI from the H-2B program for a period of five years for failure to pay back wages.
The USDOL wants the court to enforce the April 11, 2019 consent judgment and issue an order finding IPI, IPI chairwoman and executive director Cui Li Jie, and IPI CNMI chief executive officer Donald Browne in civil contempt for violating the judgment.
The USDOL said IPI executives should “purge themselves of their contempt” by paying $788,022.54 to their employees, and paying the USDOL $1,379,426 in back wages owed under the judgment.
The USDOL said IPI should be required to place $2 million in an escrow account prior to their employees resuming work.
Moreover, the USDOL said, the court should issue an immediate injunctive relief.
“Because defendants have not paid most of their employees for their work in nearly two months, the [U.S. Labor] Secretary respectfully requests that the court hear this petition as soon as it is convenient for the court,” USDOL senior trial attorney Charles Song stated in the petition filed on Dec. 15, 2020.
He likewise told the court that he emailed the IPI counsel of record, Michael Dotts, and advised him in writing that the USDOL would move for contempt if the defendants did not confirm that they would immediately comply with the judgment by paying their employees for all wages owed and paying all monies owed under the judgment.
According to Song, Dotts replied via email on Dec. 3, 2020 that he had “suspended working for IPI.”
Out of an abundance of caution, Song said he also sent IPI’s prior counsel Eugene Sullivan an email on Dec. 4, 2020, requesting to meet and confer regarding the contempt petition by USDOL.
“To date prior counsel has yet to respond to his email,” Song told the court.
He added that on Dec. 7, 2020 at 4:35 p.m. he spoke with Browne who confirmed that IPI was no longer represented by Dotts in the matter and that he, Browne, could not provide assurances that IPI would immediately comply with the judgment.
IPI last year agreed to a consent judgment with the USDOL to settle and resolve the labor violations by construction contractors of IPI.
IPI agreed to pay USDOL $3,360,000 for back wages, liquidated damages, and civil monetary penalties.
The consent judgment, which also prohibits IPI and its agents from violating labor laws, was signed by IPI Holdings chairwoman Cui Li Jie, her lawyer, Eugene R. Sullivan, and Boris Orlov, senior trial attorney for the USDOL.
According to the USDOL petition filed on Dec. 15, 2020, the “defendants admit that four payrolls since Oct. 9, 2020, have not been paid. These unpaid payrolls cover work performed by IPI employees dating back to the end of September 2020. Egregiously, while defendants have not paid their employees they still required them to continue to work without pay for over two months.”
Song said the memorandum issued by Browne confirms that the defendants are delinquent on payrolls 21-24 and also indicated that they would not be able to meet their obligations for payroll 25, the Dec. 4, 2020 payroll.
The defendants “have been given ample time and numerous opportunities to comply with the [Fair Labor Standards Act or] FLSA and Judgment but [have] demonstrated an unwillingness to do so, flouting the court’s judgment,” said the government lawyer.
The defendants “can put forth no reasonable justification for their failure to comply with the FLSA and the judgment while continuing to profit from their employees’ labor. This case requires the remedy of a contempt order to ensure compliance because defendants refuse to pay the wages owed to their employees while profiting from their labor, continue to violate the judgment, and are exploiting workers already struggling because they have not been paid in over two months,” the USDOL stated.
IPI earlier said that it “has been actively working on [finding] solutions for the challenges it’s facing. Like so many other businesses, IPI is doing its best to find a way through a difficult period and is confident about the future. IPI really appreciates its employees’ understanding, patience and support.”
