Johnson v Bahamas Vacation International (Nassau) Ltd
| Jurisdiction | Bahamas |
| Judge | Thompson, V.P. |
| Judgment Date | 08 May 2015 |
| Docket Number | NES/1459/10 |
| Court | Industrial Court (Bahamas) |
| Date | 08 May 2015 |
Industrial Tribunal
Thompson, V.P.
NES/1459/10
The applicant in Person.
No appearance by or on behalf of the respondent.
Employment Law - Industrial dispute — Termination of employment — Dismissal — No appearance on behalf of respondent — Whether contract terminated without notice or inadequate notice — Whether termination unjustified — Whether employee committed act of gross misconduct — Dismissal deemed wrongful — Compensation awarded.
This matter came on for hearing on November 10th, 2014. The matter proceeded in the absence of the respondent as the respondent was properly served but chose not to attend the hearing.
The evidence of the applicant is that he never received a letter setting out a date for this hearing. However, when he attended the offices of the Industrial Tribunal, he was told of the new date of hearing. The applicant explained that at some point and time he had an attorney. They attended two meetings at the Department of Labour. The attorney for the respondent, according to the applicant lead them to believe that they had a settlement for $25,000.00 but then he sent a letter to the applicant's attorney with a cheque for $3,000.00. The applicant left the cheque with Mr. Nathaniel Cooper because he wasn't going to sign a Deed of Release for that amount. The applicant at the time of this hearing advised the Tribunal that he no longer had an attorney because he didn't think the attorney represented him well.
The applicant gave his name as Trevor Lacon Johnson of Pastel Gardens off Marshall Road. He commenced employment with the respondent in early 2008. He did not recall the month. The applicant explained that he was hired as a Sales Rep to sell time share apartments, hotel rooms or floors. His duties were to stay at a minimum of 14% of closing. If the applicant had dropped below that there would be a meeting. A part of the duties was also to dialogue with members to see if they needed assistance with other things they may have needed while in the Bahamas.
The applicant's further evidence is that his salary was based on commission of 3–4% of each deal. There was also a reserve which when it reached $2,000.00 they would stop taking funds out of his pay cheque. As to what would happen to the reserves, the applicant explained that if there was a cancellation of one of your bookings and the company had already paid you they would take it back from your reserves. The applicant says that he didn't have too many cancellations. The court then asked the applicant if they would receive the monies in the reserves after a transaction was completed and he said that they didn't.
The further evidence of the applicant is that he was terminated because of something personal. He explained that when he first started working for the company he was new to the business. He knew nothing about time shares. There was a young lady by the name of Jasmine. She had a birthday party and invited the applicant. However, he says he told her he didn't want to attend the party because she was a lesbian. When asked by the court how did he know that, he said it was public knowledge.
About two weeks after she had invited him she went back to him and asked him to come and he decided to go. Upon his arrival at the party he says everyone looked kind of straight. The applicant felt the need to interject that he had nothing against lesbians. He continued by picking up from where he was sitting in front of Sabarro. Jasmine came and asked him to come inside. He told her that he wasn't ready to go inside at the time but she told him to come inside and she was going to hook him up with one of her girl friends. He went inside and started talking to one of Jasmine's girl friends. When he saw he wasn't getting anywhere his feelings started to switch and he told Jasmine he was going back outside. He went outside and one of his other co-workers came and told him that the female strippers were starting so he went back inside. After the female strippers were finished, a man came on so the applicant says he “took time out” and went back outside.
When the applicant went outside he saw a young lady by the name of Natasha Young who was standing with a few of her co-workers from marketing and he went over to talk with them. He stayed outside until about 2:00 A.M. The next morning when he went to work they were accusing him and Mrs. Young of being together at the party but he told them “it don't go so.” The talks eventually died down.
The applicant however started to notice that every time he had a tour Mr. Young would give him a courtesy call. They also started hooking him up with unqualified people who were not capable of buying a time share. The applicant was almost certain that Mr. Young was responsible for this. Whenever Ms. Kemp handed out the tours it was different and professional.
The applicant says that ever since the talks had started about him and Natasha Young, he noticed that Mr. Young wasn't treating him well at all. He told Ms. Kemp about it. At a certain point the applicant had a deal on Thursday and on the Friday morning he went to work. Upon arriving at work, Mr. Young tried to give him an unqualified courtesy again but Ms. Kemp stopped him and gave the applicant a qualified one.
Mr. Young subsequently called the applicant into his office one day and started asking the applicant questions about Mrs. Young. The applicant however told him that he doesn't fool with his woman. The applicant believes that Mr. Young knew who was fooling with his wife. In fact, the applicant says that he believes Mr. Young confronted his wife and she told him it wasn't so. When the Youngs started going through their divorce the applicant says that he really started to bother with him for no reason.
Everyone had started teasing Mr. Young. Sometimes when the applicant was with clients, Mr. Young would just come and stand there. The applicant says that he had deals where clients signed their contracts and God forbid if Mr. Young got his hands on them. He would tell the clients they don't need to purchase anything or would ask them why they buying? They would tell him that they liked the product and they liked the applicant. He would then tell them they didn't need that and just give them a gift. This would be after the applicant already had all of the credit card information.
At some point and time Ms. Kemp called a meeting. Before she called the meeting, the applicant and others were at the Daegour Shack. The applicant says this is where he found out that Mr. Young was trying to set him up. There was one fellow they call “Fats” who the applicant believes was engaged by Mr. Young to fool with him. The applicant told his family about it including his uncle who is a senior police officer.
The applicant started to notice that if he had a cup of coffee which he drinks black, whenever he went back to his coffee it would have milk in it. He does not drink milk in his coffee....
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