Geremine Taylor v Atlantis Hotel/Kerzner International

• Jurisdiction: Bahamas
• Court: Industrial Court (Bahamas)
• Judge: Keith H. Thompson
• Judgment Date: 18 June 2014
• Docket Number: IT/NES/1393 of 2010

Between:

Geremine Taylor

Applicant

and

Atlantis Hotel/Kerzner International

Respondent

Before:

His Honour Keith H. Thompson, Vice President

IT/NES/1393 of 2010

New Providence

Appearances:

Ms. Geremine Taylor in person

Mrs. J. Almitra Jones of Counsel for the Respondent

DECISION

EVIDENCE OF THE APPLICANT:

1 The Applicant's claim in this matter is for wrongful dismissal. She began her employment with the Respondent in June 1995 and was made permanent on January 01 ^st, 1996. At the time of her termination, she was rooms rehab manager for the east and west Coral Towers. Her salary was $643.00 per week.

2 The Applicant went on to explain the events leading up to her termination. According to her, on July 01 ^st, 2009 her son was admitted to hospital. She was given a slip by the hospital stating why she would not have been able to attend work. When she did return to work she claims that she told the other managers who were present at the managers' meeting. Some of the managers she recalled being there were Felix Delancey, Bridgette Outten and a few others. She claims to have told them that her son was admitted and the doctors didn't know what was going on with him.

3 Shortly after this, according to her, the company offered her two weeks voluntary vacation without pay. The Applicant took two days out of that to go to the hospital. It is her evidence that when she asked Felix for the two days she told him the reason she took the two days. This she says lead up to the Thursday just before she was terminated. She was off on the Thursday and she radio patched Felix.

4 When the Applicant and Jeff spoke in the corridor, she asked Jeff if she could switch with him for the Thursday she was supposed to work. At the time he said he had no problem with the switch once she got the ok from Felix. The Applicant called Felix and told him she had discussed it with Jeff. According to her, she was supposed to go to work on the Saturday evening. She says she went early and was in her office doing some work. After about twenty minutes to a half an hour before the shift started, she walked down to the lunch room to get some lunch and the night keys. At the time when she was in the lunch room Felix was alsa in the lunch room and asked her where she was. She told him that she was in her office. However, Felix told her that she couldn't have been in her office because he was looking for her. She responded by telling him that she had just come from her office. This is when she says Felix told her that she was supposed to come in for the morning shift. However, she disagreed and told him that the agreement was for her to come in for the night shift. At this time, another manager Vernal Rolle was sitting across from her and handed her the revised shift. This she says was different from the previous schedule.

5 Felix then requested to see her in her office after she had lunch. After lunch she went back to her office and Felix came there to see her and told her to swipe out and leave and when she would have returned to work on Monday, he along with Karen Meyers-Rolle would discuss the situation which had taken place on the Saturday.

6 When the Applicant arrived on the Monday she was stopped in the middle of her shift and was asked to take a seat until they got to her. While waiting, the Applicant says she could hear phone calls from Human Resource telling them how to deal with her. A meeting was convened with Karen Meyers-Rolle and Felix. Felix said that the Applicant was supposed to be at work for 7:00 A.M. and he was looking for her all day. He told her that he even called Jeff to find out if he was the one who should have worked but Jeff told him the Applicant was the one who should have worked the 7:00 A.M. shift.

7 The Applicant then asked Felix why he didn't call her and he told her that he felt that he didn't need to call her. During that meeting, the Applicant asked Ms. Rolle, if she had made a mistake didn't she think Felix could have called her and Ms. Rolle said yes. The Applicant was then told she would be suspended. Upon hearing this, the Applicant says she then said to Ms. Rolle, to please demote her before she did something like that. She asked to be sent back to the Beach Towers or to the Cove because at the time she knew they needed painters at the Cove and her trade was painting.

8 However, at the time Ms. Rolle said she couldn't do that and the Applicant asked her why since just a month ago they had sent Daniel Bethel back to the Cove. According to the Applicant, the stress was just too great for her and the dedication she had before just wasn't there. They proceeded with the suspension.

9 During that meeting, the Applicant says that she reminded Ms. Rolle about a conversation they had with Felix when they were on a walk about. From then she had asked to be put back in line staff because her son was in the hospital. However, Ms. Rolle said she couldn't because the Applicant was one of her best new managers. The Applicant asked Ms. Rolle to reconsider it while she was on suspension because she really needed her job to take care of her son. She was subsequently terminated.

10 According to the Applicant, during this last meeting she presented documents as to her stress level. These so called documents were from Social Services who removed her children from her. The Applicant is the mother of five (5) girls and one (1) boy. When she went away, she left her children with her mother. She had just gone to Florida on a trip. She left on the Friday and returned on a Sunday. When she returned on the Sunday, she went to pick up her children from her mother to take them home. However, her mother told her that one Ms. Seymour from Child Protection Services told her that the children had to stay because there was a court order against the Applicant. According to the Applicant, her sister and her cousin called Social Services. They took the children.

11 The Applicant's further evidence is that she then called Ms. Rolle and asked her for time off to go to court on the Monday but she was denied time off. She then called Bridgette Outten and asked her for Mr. O'Kelly's number, he was the Senior Vice President at the time. She told him what was going on and that she needed to be at the hearing. Felix came and picked up her medical.

12 The Applicant went to the hearing and that's when she found out that her ex-husband came from Fort Lauderdale and her children were placed with his sister Leonor Taylor and her oldest daughter (13 years old) was placed with her mother. Three (3) children were placed with her husband's sister. They were Gabby 10 years, Melika 9 Years and Sierra 8 Years old.. Israel and Akleeah were awarded to the State and because they couldn't find a home for them her friend Nadia went to Ms. Saunders from Social Services and asked her to let the two smaller ones stay with her. The Applicant at the time was also residing with her friend.

13 The Applicant at the time was paying a mortgage and she says that's why she accepted the management position. The Respondent was trying to give her a manager's job at the Cove but that didn't work out. After accepting the manager's job at Royal Towers every walk she made around the property was documented by Ms. Rolle. According to the Applicant, she believes that at the time someone called RCC (the call center). They were trying to reach the Applicant over the radio but she says she was in the basement area. According to her, she responded to the call but at the same time a fork lift was passing and they couldn't hear her and they called Bridgette Outten and told her that the Applicant refused to answer the radio. As a result of this, Bridgette Outten called her down off the floor and Bridgette and the Acting Assistant Director Jimmy Johnson held a meeting with her in the board room.

14 The Applicant was accused of refusing to answer the radio and the call from RCC. She was written up on that day. However, she refused to sign the slip because she says they refused to listen to what she had to say. The Applicant asserts that she did in fact complete the call but she was still written up. She claims to have gone up to the room and give the all clear however, when she was explaining this, she says she was told by Jimmy and Bridgette that she was suppose to answer the radio.

15 According to the Applicant, it was always her goal to become a manager in the company because she loved what she was doing. Despite this, she says Ms. Rolle saw where she had a keen eye for her work in terms of painting as did Mr. O'Kelly because they both said it to her. When the Applicant was a line staff, she was also a shop steward and according to her, her only fault in the company was fighting for the rights of the workers. She believes that this is why she was refused the request to return to line staff. The Applicant further testified that her husband Anwar Taylor served along with Mr. Pat Bain a past president of the hotel union. It is the feeling of the Applicant that ever since Ms. Rolle came into engineering she was trying to get her fired, as there was always something personal, she feels between her and Ms. Rolle.

16 The Applicant says she was terminated on August 19 ^th, 2009 and she found employment two weeks after her son's funeral on January 21 ^st, 2013. According to her, she actively looked for employment. She sent out many resumes. At the time of giving evidence, the Applicant was earning $250.00 per week. The Applicant went on to explain that at the time of giving evidence her oldest daughter and Akleeah were living with her. The other three daughters are in Fort Lauderdale with her ex-husband. She hadn't seen them for four (4) years.

CROSS-EXAMINATION:

17 Under cross-examination, the Applicant was asked whether she recalled attending the Department of Labour and she answered yes. Counsel then asked her if she had...