Andrew Yeom, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC), has warned that the delays in the salary payments of the employees who remain working at Imperial Pacific International (IPI) will make things more complicated.
In a report to the Commission, Mr. Yeom confirmed that 3 IPI payrolls had been delayed since February this year. As he revealed, the gambling operator’s remaining employees still have to receive their salaries for the following pay periods: February 7th to 20th; February 21st to March 6th; and March 7th to March 20th, 2022.
At the beginning of February this year, the 40 remaining staff members of Imperial Pacific International were informed that the company would delay their payments until further notice because of some financial challenges. For the time being, there are currently 15 construction workers, 17 security guards, and 8 administrative staff members who continue to report for work for the casino company that is still expected to finalize the construction of its Garapan-based casino hotel resort.
As CasinoGamesPro previously reported, Imperial Pacific International, whose casino ceased operation in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, is also currently facing a number of lawsuits in both federal and local courts. The gambling operator’s failure to pay salaries has also been included in the complaints faced by Imperial Pacific International that have been filed by Mr. Yeom with the Commonwealth Casino Commission.
IPI Failed to Make Security Contributions for Its Staff Members for Over a Year
Apart from filing the latest complaints against the gambling operator to the Commission and warning that Imperial Pacific International’s failure to pay its remaining employees’ payrolls, the CCC Executive Director also informed the commissioners about a complaint received by some former employees of the company. According to the complaint, the casino operator has not made their Social Security contributions for more than a year.
Mr. Yeom explained that, if true, this transgression would be extremely concerning. He also revealed that the Commission had contacted the gambling company to seek more information about the validity of the aforementioned claims and had been informed by IPI’s Human Resource Director that the claim was actually true. At the time, the company further explained that it had referred the matter not only to its legal team but also to a newly-established task force, for their due diligence. Mr. Yeom further revealed that Imperial Pacific International had asked for some time for making the due diligence, as well as to seek some remedial solution to the situation.
Following some discussions, on March 3rd, 2022 the Executive Director of the Commonwealth Casino Commission explained that the regulator had finally managed to gather the necessary information regarding the number of employees, the total aggregate amount that the company owed to Social Security, as well as the periods being affected from the gambling company’s finance director. He revealed that the non-remittance of the Social Security withholding of Imperial Pacific involved over 1,000 staff members for 2020 and 2021. The amount owed was set to be officially disclosed in a complaint.
In mid-March, following an investigation, Mr. Yeom said that the case had been formally forwarded to Revenue and Taxation for them to take official actions against the company since the matter is categorized as a tax law breach. He also added that the Commonwealth Casino Commission would possibly be filing 2 more enforcement actions against the gambling operator in terms of tax law violations.
