Oct. 1, 2002 – The Labor Department has made arrangements to conduct screening on the next two Saturdays of laid-off employees of Jacobs-IMC, a former Hovensa contractor, to determine their eligibility for benefits.
This Saturday, screening for those individuals whose last names begin with the letters A through M will be held at the department's Sunny Isle office (Store No. 4) between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
On Oct. 12, screening for those whose names begin with the letters N through Z will take place at the same location, also between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Hovensa furloughed about 1,045 employees of seven of the refinery's contractors at midnight on Sept. 12 when its master liability insurance policy expired. Hovensa officials said that despite extensive efforts, they had been unable to obtain replacement coverage, and they called on the contractors to try to secure coverage on their own, with the refinery to reimburse them for their added expenses.
The case of Jacobs-IMC differed from that of the other six contractors because Hovensa had previously told Jacobs that its contract, due to expire on Sept. 27, would not be renewed, and Jacobs had so informed its employees.
As of last Thursday, five of the seven contractors had been successful in securing liability insurance on their own. Jacobs had not done so, but it was a moot point with the company's contract with the refinery being terminated as of Friday.
Given the imminent contract expiration, Hovensa's vice president and spokesman Alex A. Moorhead said on Thursday, Hovensa had begun focusing on getting Turner St. Croix Maintenance, "the company that will replace Jacobs-IMC on Oct. 1," to "begin hiring Jacobs-IMC employees." He did not say how many of some 450 furloughed Jacobs workers had been or would be rehired.
Also, Moorhead said, two other Hovensa contractors, Pinnacle Services and Triangle Construction and Maintenance, had rehired the laid-off personnel of the other contractor that had not obtained its own insurance — V.I. Industrial Maintenance Corp.
On Sept. 17, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Territorial Court alleging that Hovensa had used the insurance crisis as an excuse to lay off 450 Jacobs-IMC workers three weeks ahead of the expiration of the maintenance company's contract. Attorney Lee Rohn charged that Hovensa had denied the Jacobs workers severance pay they were entitled to receive and asked the court to order Hovensa to pay it as well as punitive damages to the workers.
The lawsuit alleges that it has been the practice for refinery contractors to transfer groups of workers from one company to another as old contracts expire and new ones are created, with the transferred workers assured of continuing benefits and seniority. But when the Jacobs-IMC workers were sent home on Sept. 12, Rohn said, Hovensa told them they were not entitled to any more benefits — which she said violates V.I. labor law.
Hovensa officials disputed the charges.
Also on Sept. 17, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, president of Our Virgin Islands Labor Union, called the layoffs an illegal lockout. He said the union, which represents workers at two contractors other than Jacobs, wants its workers compensated for lost wages because their being furloughed was "no fault of their own."
According to a Labor Department release distributed on Tuesday, staff members of the department's Division of Unemployment Insurance and the Dislocated Worker Unit of its Division of Training will be available at the Saturday sessions "to determine potential eligibility status for unemployment and other services."
Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin said he and his staff "understand the plight of the workers and remain ready to make this transition as smooth as possible." For further information, call 773-1440.
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