Timeshare staff pay ruling
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from February 2001.
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The new contract was one undertaking given to the court to resolve problems raised after the resort was prosecuted for offering and/or providing employment under terms and conditions not conforming to provisions of the Labour Law.
On behalf of the company, Mr. Pierre Lamontage QC entered pleas of guilty to four charges relating to vacation pay for four timeshare sales persons.
He told Magistrate Nova Hall that the company will pay "back vacation pay" to the four.
Crown Counsel Arden Warner withdrew four other charges relating to pay for holidays.
Charges against the resort's managing director were withdrawn on a previous occasion. The matter had been before the court since last year, when similar charges were also brought against Morritt's Tortuga Club. Attorney Phillip Boni appeared on behalf of Morritt's' and Seven Mile Beach Resort. Morritt's was set for trial first and this case was adjourned.
Another magistrate found Morritt's guilty and fined the company $500 for each breach.
However, many other related issues were aired. One was whether timeshare sales persons were employees or independent contractors. The magistrate said industry norms did not assist her; each contract of employment must be examined on its own facts. She found that Morritt's sales staff were employees (Caymanian Compass, 26 July).
Another question was whether or not the failure to offer paid vacation leave was a continuing offence, and therefore subject to a daily penalty. The trial magistrate ruled that the failure to pay vacation pay was not a continuing offence because the defendant had the right to have the matter tried in court (Compass, 14 August).
Mr. Boni instructed Mr. Lamontagne for Seven Mile Beach Resort.
In court on Monday, Mr. Lamontagne submitted proposed copies of a new employment contract for the resort's timeshare sales staff. The contract provides that all sales staff will receive US$300 per week remuneration plus vacation and holiday pay and whatever else [such as sick leave] is required under the Labour Law.
The resort will also pay a net commission on the employee's sales. Net commission is gross commission minus the weekly pay [including vacation, holiday etc]. Mr. Lamontagne pointed out that the difference between gross commission and net commission might at times be negative.
On the question of sentencing, he pointed out that Morritt's had been fined $500 for each offence after trial. He suggested that in this case the fine should be less because there was no trial.
The magistrate agreed and imposed a fine of $300 for each offence, making a total of $1,200.
The resort is paying "back vacation pay" of $1,200 each to two sales persons, $900 to one and $1,800 to another.
