Former employees of Fiesta want severance
On Thursday eighty-six employees of the former Fiesta Inn were terminated from the employ of the bank receiver and the next day rehired by the management for the Princess Belize, the new owners of the hotel. They may still have their jobs, but a number of the employees are angry about losing the benefits they gained from the previous years of service. Today 6 angry workers went to the Labour Department in Belize City to find out about their right under labour laws. They told News Five they had to take the matter this far because when they tried to collect their severance pay from receiver for the Fiesta Inn, Stanley Ermeav, they claim he told them they weren’t entitled to anything.
Therese Wright, Waitress (7 years)
“I went to him and I asked him what happened, he say according to his lawyers that’s what we are supposed to get. I said do you know your lawyers are a set of crooks? You know that you are supposed to pay us a severance pay. We don’t care what kind of receivership the hotel was under. But then they get money for the hotel so pay we what we due.”
Teresa Augustus, Waitress (6 years, 8 months)
“Yes, I went to Mr. Stanley Ermeav and he told me that that’s all I’m supposed to get, is my week and change pay from what I work for and I could go to the Labour office because he and his lawyer have labour office covered. He won’t have a problem.”
Dale Trujeque, Labour Officer
“If you talking about severance and there’s the issue of bankruptcy, right, the law, where the worker is entitled to the severance, the law does make provisions for that severance to be paid, even though there’s a bankruptcy matter, but it has to be dealt with in the legal system. We’d have to go after some director or receiver and take up the matter in the courts.”
Trujeque, who was just assigned the case, says he cannot comment on the specifics. He did say that if necessary the Labour Department would take the matter to court on behalf of the employees. Stanley Ermeav could not be reached for comment on the employees’ claims. Princess International bought the hotel’s assets, not the ongoing operations and therefore, they are not responsible for the employees’ severance pay. The European corporation operates seven hotels in Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
