Two former executives of Harborside Resort on Paradise Island have filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Kerzner International and Starwood Vacation claiming that they were wrongfully dismissed.
Lillian Hepburn Johnson, former general manager of sales, and Nadeen Lowe, the terminated assistant general sales manager, are asking for over $1 million in damages.
The pair was fired last month after backing employees of the timeshare resort who leveled accusations of racism, disrespect and non-professionalism against their project leader, Willian Brinkerhoff.
The lawyer they hired specialises in cases against major corporations and is “very confident” that he will be successful in the suit, Mrs. Johnson said, although she refused to reveal the attorney’s name.
She added that both Kerzner International and Starwood are traded publicly in the United States and the information that she possesses on the alleged unethical business practices at Harborside could have significant consequences for the companies if disclosed.
“We’re looking to bring them down,” Mrs. Johnson said. “We’re going to put every piece of inside information we have out to the public.”
Mrs. Johnson claims she has already confirmed appointments with three major US networks for next week at which time she intends to disclose that information.
She said the parties would be willing to forego legal action if their former employer agrees to pay them the amount being sought, otherwise the suit would proceed.
She added that, “if it takes us a year or two years that’s fine because they [the former employers] are my new project”.
The other terminated employee, Mrs. Lowe, said the disputing parties are actively seeking to resolve the conflict at the Department of Labour where a meeting was held yesterday. The next meeting between the parties and a conciliator is scheduled for tomorrow. She said both she and Mrs. Johnson have more than 13 years of experience in sales management in the hotel industry and they have a number of issues they would like to see addressed during the conciliation process.
When contacted for comment on the matter, Public Affairs Director at Atlantis Paradise Island Ed Fields only, “We have a grievance process and all our labour employee-related complaints go through that process.”
Since the Bahama Journal ran the story of the terminations and the allegations made by the employees, officials at both properties have been tight-lipped. But the Journal understands that Ministry of Labour officials have been working aggressively to put out fires at Harborside.
Mrs. Johnson, meanwhile, said working with Mr. Brinkerhoff was a “nightmare”.
She alleged that expatriate employees at the resort are paid more than Bahamians for doing the same work.
She also claims the employer sought to unilaterally change the employment contract telling employees “they must sign if they want to continue to work.”
Frustrations at the Paradise Island property reached a boiling point in January with the workers resorting to industrial action; staging a sickout.
One sales representative said during a recent meeting at the resort that, “There is without a doubt a terminal sickness permeating this organization. The extreme moral decay visible can only be the result of the trampling of basic human values. This has resulted in feelings of distrust toward the project director, experiences of disrespect and racial discrimination from the project director.”
On February 1, the disgruntled employees of Harborside wrote to Joy Theiss, Starwood’s vice president of human resources, laying out their concerns.
But they also noted that, “We are not attempting to engage in a fight with Starwood that would result in unnecessary loss of revenue. We are skilled sales people of Bahamian decent who want to embrace this Starwood culture.”
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
