UPDATE: Majority of Long Bay workers decline voluntary redundancy package
According to Permanent Secretary within the Ministry for Natural Resources and Labour, Mr Ronald F Smith-Berkeley, just about 9 or 10 workers opted to sever ties with Long Bay Beach Resort and Villas.
Mr Smith-Berkeley also assured Virgin Islands News Online that the Labour Department will ensure that the workers, who chose to discontinue working with the resort, get their full packages from the company.
“I have every confidence in my officers and they said that they will ensure that even before any cheque is cut that they will examine every fine detail so that the workers, who decided to take the package and move on, get their full benefits,” said Mr Smith-Berkeley.
He added that currently the remainder of the staff who did not take up the offer given to them by the management of Long Bay Beach Resort and Villas are now temporarily laid off but will be back on the job come the end of October, 2013 when the entity re-opens.
“But even when they (Long Bay Beach Resort) reopens and if they have to eventually lay off some people we will ensure that they get their full benefits for the full period that they would have worked with the company,” he added.
According to Mr Smith-Berkeley, it wouldn’t be fair for persons who would have given years of service to the company to not get their full benefit packages. “You have some people who would have worked there for 15, 20, 25 years so if they still have to lay off persons when they reopens whenever, everyone would have to get their full benefits and we will ensure that is done.”
The management of the resort had assured that the entity would be down-sizing upon its reopening.
“Once the resort reopens in October, it is very likely that business will be slow and we will be forced to shorten work hours and reduce employee work week (eg. 3 or 4 days work week) accordingly. These reductions will remain in effect until such time as the resort’s occupancy levels can support normal staffing schedules. There will also be the possibility of permanent layoffs if the resort operation cannot support all staff positions,” the company had stated in a letter to employees.
It is very likely that going forward Long Bay Beach Resort will close on an annual basis during the summer and fall months due to low occupancy levels, employees were forewarned.
See previous article posted August 19, 2013
Long Bay Resort begins 2-month closure from today, Aug. 19
-Management mum on employees’ status
LONG BAY, Tortola, VI – After many years of keeping its doors open throughout the off-season, Long Bay Resort and Villas will cease certain operations for two months from today, August 19, 2013.
General Manager of the Resort Mr Hugh Robertson; however, refused to respond to questions posed to him by this news site regarding employees response to the offer enshrined in a redundancy package.
On July 19, 2013 employees of the entity were served letters offering them voluntary resignation and severance pay. The letter, a copy of which was secured by this news site, stated “If you voluntarily resign, then your effective resignation date will be August 19, 2013, and you will be paid all severance that is due to you in accordance with BVI Labour Laws. Your severance will be paid in full by September 1, 2013.”
The management of Long Bay Resort and Villas also told employees that they were going to be handled on a first come first served basis as the company has limited amount of money to pay severance to everyone. “Once the money is used up, we will no longer be able to accept requests for voluntary resignation with severance pay,” according to the document, “The voluntary resignation and severance programme is on a first come, first served basis. If you wish to voluntarily resign and receive your severance pay please see financial controller Richard Wagner as soon as possible,” the letter continued.
Several employees had expressed their discomfort with the section of the letter which stated, “Once the resort reopens in October, it is very likely that business will be slow and we will be forced to shorten work hours and reduce employee work week (eg. 3 or 4 days work week) accordingly. These reductions will remain in effect until such time as the resort’s occupancy levels can support normal staffing schedules. There will also be the possibility of permanent layoffs if the resort operation cannot support all staff positions.”
It is very likely that going forward Long Bay will close on an annual basis during the summer and fall months due to low occupancy levels, employees were forewarned.
One day prior to the scheduled August 19, 2013 closure, Mr Robertson was contacted by Virgin Islands News Online and was told that the resort was sticking to its plans previously announced. “We are closing tomorrow like we had initially said; we have nothing more to say really.”
Asked about the employees' response to the offer of voluntary redundancy, Mr Robertson said, “As it relates to that we have nothing to say. We're going forward with the closure from tomorrow and we reopen the new resort on the 25th of October.”
On Thursday, July 18, 2013, Mr Robertson had told this news agency that management was not willing to cooperate with the media in releasing information as it related to employees. This was twenty four (24) hours after employees were handed the letter offering voluntary resignation.
Mr Robertson had also previously said the scaling down of the operations of the Long Bay resort has been long in the making and that they have finally come to the point that they must do it as they are operating a ‘business’.
The sections that will be closed off are the estate homes, villas and poolside apartments.
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21 Responses to “UPDATE: Majority of Long Bay workers decline voluntary redundancy package”
It is not fair to the employees but in any private business, reorganization is necessary- not fun- but necessary.
Would we rather have a hotel available for the season or a big void of nothing forever? And what kinds of new owners are possible? It is a no-win.
I have no dought in my mind that a lot of these employees at long bay resort got exactly what they deserve, them thief the place down, bring there personal laundry to wash on the compound ,minding people business who drive by before, them focus on giving good customer service to resort
guest as a matter of fact some of them did not have to go to the super markets to shop that is where they shop abuse abuse abuse get rid of all start fresh ,make shore that you get rid of two lame horse down in the beach bar who there for years making a mockery say that them cooking blind leading the blind in the kitchen. what a mess