Thirty-seven employees of the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Kingston have been made redundant according to Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton who noted that the severed employees are from various departments of the operations.
The decision comes amid the lockdown of the country’s international airports and curtailment of dining activities in the wake of COVID-19 which have resulted in drastic drops in business levels in hotels. Guyana Marriott Hotel officials when pressed for comments asked that questions to be emailed and promised to respond. Up to press time there was no response.
Hamilton yesterday told Stabroek News that on August 24, the company wrote the Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle, informing him of their plans to let go of the workers.
According to the Labour Minister, employees from the operations management department, banquets and events, food and beverage and finance and sales were let go.
He noted that the Ministry of Labour has since requested the company’s payroll records to ensure that the terminated workers’ benefits are calculated correctly.
Hamilton also disclosed that one of the severed employees has visited the Ministry of Labour and lodged a formal complaint over the termination of service.
In a letter seen by this newspaper and signed by Director of Human Resources, Rafael Marcolan, employees were informed that they will be paid their full month’s salary for September and their dismissal is effective from October 1, 2020.
In addition, the severed employees were also informed that they will receive a statutory redundancy payment in keeping with Section 21 of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act.
Marcolan in his correspondence also told the terminated staffers that they will be paid for unused vacation leave and receive all contractual entitlements.
In the letter he explained that the termination process is based on two criteria – last in first out (LIFO), and the “unique job” principle.
The Human Resource Director explained that the LIFO principle will be applied where there is a surplus of employees in the same position, and under the unique job principle, where unique positions exist but are no longer needed as the company makes changes to cater for business demands.
Additionally, Marcolan invited employees to attend a meeting scheduled for next Tuesday to voice their concerns or contact his office prior to the meeting.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the accommodation and tourism industry due to travel restrictions imposed at a national level.
In addition, major events and social gatherings which are hosted at the hotels have also been cancelled in a bid to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Since the pandemic, the hotel has been operating at a limited capacity mainly catering to guests employed in the oil & gas sector.
The hotel opened in April, 2015.
