SOME Covid-19 front liners, through the law firm of Banes Horey Berman & Miller, are asking the Superior Court to issue a writ of mandamus compelling Department of Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig to provide them documentation regarding premium pay criteria.
Attorney Joseph Horey filed the complaint on behalf of the law firm’s clients, but did not identify them.
According to the complaint, on Dec. 29, 2021, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced that CNMI government employees who had worked at least 40 hours in directly mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic would each receive $5,000 in premium pay.
Horey said their law firm represents certain clients who had worked at least 40 hours as government employees in directly mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic, but who received a premium pay of $1,000 each rather than $5,000.
Horey said their clients had heard rumors that they were paid less because they were no longer employed by the Commonwealth, but they were unsure if that information was correct, and, if it was, they were unsure of the basis for such a distinction.
On July 1, 2022, Horey requested the secretary of Finance, pursuant to the Open Government Act, to produce any record setting out the method of calculation used in determining the amount of premium pay awarded to former government employees.
Horey said the defendant replied by letter dated July 19, 2022 that no “method of calculation” was used, only “criteria,” one of which was that “active employees as of pay period #26” would receive $5,000, while “former employees” who had done the same work during the same time period in mitigating Covid-19 would receive $1,000.
In an e-mail on July 25, 2022, Horey requested the secretary of Finance to make available any records setting out these “criteria.”
Horey said the secretary of Finance did not respond.
On Aug. 23, 2022, Horey sent the secretary of Finance another request, pursuant to the Open Government Act, requesting records relating to the policy and/or practice of differentiating between active and former employees for purposes of premium pay.
“On August 30, 2022, defendant’s agents replied by e-mail that they had received plaintiff’s second OGA request and that they were working on it,” the complaint stated.
On Sept. 22, 2022, Horey replied with an e-mail noting that a response to the second OGA request was overdue.
He did not receive a reply.
As of the date of this complaint, Horey said the secretary of Finance had not produced the documents requested, nor had he provided any notice that they were available for inspection and copying.
Horey filed the complaint on Oct. 11 and is requesting the court to issue a writ of mandamus compelling the secretary of Finance to make the requested documents available to their clients.
The complaint is also asking for an award of attorney’s fees and cost of lawsuit.
According to the complaint, “the Open Government Act provides that, within ten days of a request, all public records shall be available for inspection by any person during established office hours, unless public inspection of such records is in violation of law.”
The Open Government Act also provides that “recourse may be had to this Court by any person unlawfully denied access to public records,” the complaint stated.
