2-12-08 Saipan Tribune: "Mess Left At Labor Cleaned Up"

Local

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

'Mess left at Labor cleaned up'

By Agnes E. Donato Reporter

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said yesterday that the mess left behind by past administrations at the Department of Labor has now been cleaned up.

Fitial announced a “new era” at Labor as he disclosed the department's installation of a new computer system, a new website, cleaning up the backlog of applications and labor cases, and new operating procedures.

Fitial also announced his appointment of former Rep. Cinta Kaipat as the new Labor deputy secretary.

Labor director Barry Hirshbein and other Labor officials demonstrated to the media yesterday how they upgraded the Labor and Immigration Identification System with the new installation of a new computer system.

After the demonstration, Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas, Hirshbein, Kaipat, and other Labor officials joined the governor in the news briefing.Fitial said it took two years for his administration to clean up the mess left over from past administrations.

The governor said with the new computer system the LIIDS system has been upgraded for the first time since 2000.

“We have new equipment and new software. The system came online last week. We recognize the hard work put up in by Tom Torres (LIIDS computer specialist 3) to make this happen and the able assistance of Ron Smith (web master),” Fitial said.

With respect to the new website, Fitial said Smith also designed and implemented it.

“This is free for employers, free for prospective employees, and free for the general public. The website is a very efficient way for everyone to see what jobs are available,” he said.

In an interview with Saipan Tribune, San Nicolas said he has been waiting for this computer system project for a long time.

“Our main goal for the automation is to make it easier for all the employers to process their papers, their applications to Labor and Immigration through the automation system,” San Nicolas said.

Hirsbein explained that under the new system, they automatically generate a voucher for a customer electronically, then the customer will be allowed to go down and pay for that voucher. The customer will then return and bring proof of payment.

“We enter the voucher, that application will then be taken down to LIIDS, it will be scanned into the computer system. That application will never come back here to Labor Processing,” he said.

The Labor director said all of the papers found in the shelves at Processing will soon be gone. “The application will be reviewed on the computer. Anyone of my staff can pull out the application out of the processing and review the applications, make deficiencies.” he said.

The approval, Hirshbein said, will be sent out electronically or the deficiency will be sent out by e-mails if the employer has given them their e-mail address and they can correct the deficiencies.

“All of these are tied in with the Employment Services that allows you to post your JVA [Job Vacancy Announcement] online, electronically approve the JVA, and all those systems are tied together,” he said.

Under the new system, Hirshbein pointed out, there will be less chance of misplacing documents and things will be reviewed efficiently.

Fitial said that Labor Employment Services director Alfred Pangelinan and Division of Employment Services supervisor Alice I. Concepcion and their staff are upgrading the services provided to citizen applicants. They are also helping run the new foreign worker transfer program.

On the backlog issue, Fitial cited that Labor had a backlog of over 11,000 applications and delays as long as a year in getting applications acted on by the department.

He said Labor director Hirshbein and his staff at Processing Section have cut the number to less than 100 pending cases from 2007.

That means, Fitial said, that Labor Processing will soon be operating totally under the new labor law.

“It should not take more than a month for applications to be completed by Labor Processing. This will reduce costs for businesses and help foreign workers have stable employment,” he said.

The chief executive said that his administration inherited a backlog of nearly 5,000 cases.

“We finished almost all the cases from 2004 and prior years by March 2007 and we expect to finish all the 2005, 2006, and 2007 cases by June 2008,” he said.

Fitial said when they get that done, the Labor Administrative Hearing Office will be operating totally under the new law.Fitial said they also put up new operating procedures to take advantage of much-improved tools for all of the units at Labor that are provided under the new law.

As for Kaipat's appointment, the governor said that, as author of Public Law 15-108 or the new labor reform law, the former congresswoman spent more than a year in getting it drafted in a way that took into account the input from all parts of the community, including new provisions for foreign workers.

Fitial said Kaipat will be in charge of community outreach to be sure everyone understands the much-improved structure of the local citizen worker-preference and the guest worker program.

The governor commended the people who work at Labor and the management team “for what they have done.”

“We set performance benchmarks, and they stepped up and got the job done,” Fitial added.
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