The Labor Department will resume scheduling Wrongful Discharge cases effective immediately. Eleuteria Roberts, acting commissioner of Labor, said Monday. There was a hiatus on hearing cases after an opinion, written by District Court Judge Thomas K. Moore in February, dismissed the Wrongful Discharge Act, saying it was superceded by federal law and therefore invalid.
"In an effort to minimize any backlog and burden to either claimant or respondent, I have instructed my staff to continue to function in the normal matter until we have a final decision on this matter, " she said in a release from Government House.
The majority opinion is that Moore's decision scuttled the whole law.
The question being researched by the Attorney General's Office.
A receptionist at the AG's office said Iver Stridiron, acting Attorney General, would be off-island for a week.
It is unclear how Labor intends to proceed and whether under current circumstances any decisions handed down by Labor's Hearings and Appeals Unit will be enforceable.
A call to Roberts for clarification has not been returned.
