The U.S Department of Labor (USDOL) has filed a notice in federal court against Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) for “unlawfully requiring stranded employees to work without pay during a global pandemic, failing to meet their basic necessities or provide for their return to their home countries.”
According to the department, IPI executives have “created another humanitarian crisis” in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. protectorate in the western Pacific.
Marianas Variety reports that IPI has yet to pay two months’ in back wages as ordered by a federal court in April 2019. The original consent judgment provided for a payment plan totaling $3.36 million for back wages, liquidated damages and civil monetary penalties, and called for a December 2019 payment of more than $1 million. IPI defaulted on that payment and made a partial payment of $250,000 on May 29, 2020. But the day before, on May 28, 2020, the judgment was amended to $6.9 million as the result of a lawsuit filed against IPI by its former contractor, Pacific Rim Land Development LLC.
The USDOL said IPI’s disregard for its employees, the federal court judgment and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must not continue. The Saipan Tribune reports that in June of this year, a writ of execution was issued to several banks. According to IPI, these writs caused it to default on its obligations to IPI employees and to miss its payroll.
“IPI’s employees recently held public protests regarding the missed payrolls,” USDOL added.
The USDOL said that any ruling the court enters in the Pacific Rim lawsuit should ensure that “IPI is able to comply with the court’s injunction requiring IPI to comply with FLSA, including remedying missed payroll and meeting its payroll obligations going forward.”
The consent judgment was signed by IPI Holdings chairwoman Cui Li Jie, her lawyer Eugene R. Sullivan, and Boris Orlov, senior trial attorney for USDOL.
Asked for comment, IPI said it’s been it’s 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.”
