Imperial Pacific International will pay US$3.36 million in back wages, liquidated damages and civil monetary penalties to the US Department of Labor following the latter’s investigations into labor violations on the site of IPI’s under-construction Saipan integrated resort.
The violations, committed by IPI’s contractors, relate to a failure to pay minimum wages or overtime and to maintain satisfactory records during a near two-year period from January 2016 to December 2017.
The consent judgement, filed in the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, was signed this week by IPI Chairwoman Cui Li Jie, according to a report by Marianas Variety.
Under the judgement, IPI will also “amend [its] payroll practices and require all contractors to amend and maintain their payroll practices by paying all employees an hourly rate in compliance with minimum wage and overtime provision of the labor law.”
The US$3.36 million payment includes US$1.58 million for back wages, US$1.58 million for liquidated damages and US$200,000 for civil monetary penalties, to be paid in three separate payments in December 2019, 2020 and 2021.
IPI recently warned it could miss its latest February 2021 construction deadline due to ongoing labor shortages at Imperial Pacific Resort.
