No help in sight for Bellevue workers

Former employees of the Bellevue are still without paycheques in the wake of the hotel’s forced closure on Wednesday. A number of the hotel’s approximately thirty employees have visited the Labour Department but that agency explained to News 5 that while it is investigating the matter there is very little it can do immediately to help the employees. The only man who can provide some answers, proprietor Roger Dinger, has proven difficult to track down. Dinger was allegedly sighted for a short time this morning in Belize City, but is believed to be residing at Cottage Colony, his resort at St. George’s Caye. According to officials of the Labour Department, they will eventually take the matter to court, but must first put together the documentation and accounts showing how much each employee is owed for salary, notice, holiday and severance pay. The Bellevue was closed down by court order after management ignored demands to pay rent, which was due from January. The hotel is owned by the Belize Social Security Board.