The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

TWO former Grand Lucayan managers say they have been pushed into severe financial hardship while waiting for severance payments they insist are owed to them, with one struggling to meet his mortgage and support his family and the other saying her utilities have been disconnected and a bank has taken action over an unpaid loan.

Jerry Davis, a former senior security coordinator, and Patsy Hepburn, who spent 26 years at the resort and was a customer service manager, both declined severance packages offered after their employment ended, saying the sums were substantially below calculations made by the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association.

They also say they have not received gratuity payments they believe they earned through their years of service.

Mr Davis, who worked at the resort from 2015 until he was laid off in February, said he has received notices from his financial institution concerning his mortgage and is struggling to support his three-year-old daughter and 84-year-old mother.

“As a result of not being employed, not receiving my proper severance,” he said, “I have my bills piling up.”

Mr Davis said he is the sole provider for his mother and has been unable to meet his mortgage and household expenses.

He said receiving what he considers his proper severance would have left him in a position to meet those obligations. With the new school year approaching, he said he is also struggling to pay school fees and buy uniforms and books for his daughter.

“I am not getting any assistance from the government,” Mr Davis said.

He said former employees were given a date to apply for National Insurance Board unemployment benefits, but that he does not expect those payments until the end of the year.

“So here is it now,” he said, “I’m unemployed and don’t have a dollar coming in.”

Mr Davis and other supervisory and management employees are represented by the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association, which calculated severance packages for its members.

He said the amount calculated for him by the hotel was about $60,000, substantially below the union’s calculation.

“I don't know where they got their numbers from,” Mr Davis said, “but they cut our salaries drastically lower than what it's supposed to be.”

He said association president Obie Ferguson advised members not to sign the severance agreements.

According to Mr Davis, Mr Ferguson told members he had spoken with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and that the Prime Minister had agreed on the severance package for union members.

Mr Davis said he was subsequently told there was no objection to employees receiving the money, but no payment date had been secured.

The Tribune contacted Mr Ferguson for comment, but calls and messages were not returned up to press time.

Mr Davis also questioned what happened to gratuity payments he said had been made to employees who left the resort following Hurricane Dorian. “Employees who left, resigned, retired,” he said, “they got that. They got the gratuity.”

Mr Davis said he understood money had been left by Hutchison for employees and that records existed documenting the gratuity arrangements.

He said that when employees were severed in February, he asked about the gratuity despite declining to sign his severance agreement.

Ms Hepburn, meanwhile, said her financial position has deteriorated to the point that essential services have been disconnected.

“My light is off, my water is off, my cable is off,” she said. “Everything is off.”

Ms Hepburn said she recently received a summons in connection with an unpaid Royal Bank of Canada loan and has also fallen behind with the National Workers Cooperative Credit Union.

“The National Workers Credit Union has given me some time for the past eight months or so,” she said. “I need my money so that I can pay my rent and pay my loans.”

She also said she has a substantial outstanding medical bill.

Ms Hepburn worked at the Grand Lucayan for 26 years and said she managed the property’s telephone and communications department.

She alleged that she had been underpaid for years despite her responsibilities and had unsuccessfully sought assistance through the union and labour authorities. “I was working in the hotel for 26 years,” Ms Hepburn said, “and I couldn't make $750 for 26 years.”

She also alleged that she endured discrimination and poor treatment from the resort’s management team.

Ms Hepburn said she received no proper notice before being barred from entering the hotel in October 2025.

She said security officers told her when she arrived for work one morning that her name was on a list of people who could not enter the property.

Ms Hepburn said she contacted the union and labour authorities and was instructed by the union to continue reporting to work.

She later declined the severance package offered to her, saying it was far below what she believed she was entitled to. She also expected to receive gratuity based on her 26 years of service.

“We did not receive that,” she said.

Her appeal to the authorities is now centred on getting the outstanding payments resolved.

“I just want my money,” Ms Hepburn said. “All we asking for is our proper severance. That's all we are asking for so we could live.”

The dispute comes as the Grand Lucayan property moves through a major redevelopment.

In May 2025, the Government and Concord Wilshire Capital signed an $827 million Heads of Agreement for the redevelopment of the Grand Lucayan. Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who was then minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said the hotel was sold for $120 million.

Mr Davis said he understood MSC had purchased part of the property while another portion was associated with Concord Wilshire, and questioned why former employees and businesses that dealt with the resort remained unpaid.

“You have other vendors at the hotel or who did business transactions at the hotel,” he said, “and still haven't been paid.”

Mr Davis questioned why those obligations remained after portions of the resort had been sold.

“If the hotel was sold,” he said, “why is it that we can't get our severance?”

He said the former employees are seeking money they believe they earned over years of service.

“We are experiencing extreme hardship as a result of not receiving our proper severance package,” Mr Davis said.

“We are entitled this; we work for it, we are owed this, but then we can't get it.”