By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The Department of Labour is set to make multiple visits to Norman’s Cay to resolve an ongoing investigation, which the department’s director described as “the worst of the worst”.

With allegations of human trafficking, breaches of environmental laws, salary issues, mold infestations, unsuitable living conditions and “serious breaches of the Employment Act”, Howard Thompson said the investigation surrounding a Norman’s Cay Resort Project is his “number one priority”. He added that allegations and complaints have been rolling in “for over a year now” but “they would have increased over the past three to four months.” 

Mr Thompson said he and his team made an unannounced visit to the island on May 16 and met with both the Bahamian and expat workers. He noted two immigration officers joined he and his team to Norman’s Cay, utilising the Royal Bahamas Police Force plane on the last-minute “emergency expedition”.

“But what I would like to say is that we will be going down there at least two to three times every month until we resolve all of those issues,” Mr Thompson said. “The allegations present themselves to the point where I’m almost able to say that this is the worst of the worst that I’ve heard of in terms of complaints [at the] Department of Labour ever since I’ve been the director. And so this has my priority. This is number one priority for me and the Department of Labour and Immigration won’t rest until we get all of these issues resolved.

“There’s also allegations of human trafficking. There’s allegations of breaches of environmental laws, so on and so forth. So I haven’t seen this with respect to the other cays or other developments going on, so that’s why I’m saying, I’m prepared to call it the worst of the worst. But let me hasten to say these are simply allegations. Myself, my team, immigration, the police force, other agencies, are looking into it very, very closely.

“...The allegation is that undocumented persons being transported to and from that island on boats or planes, and who the allegation is that they don’t have proper documentation to be in The Bahamas, much less work in the Bahamas. And so if that is indeed the case, and like I said, we’re conducting investigations, then I would classify that as trafficking in persons, human rights breaches, and we’ll be reporting it to the relevant international authorities. But like I said, at the moment, these are simply allegations, and we’re taking it very, very seriously. I know there are a number of whistleblowers who have not just reached out to the Department of Labour, they would have reached out to the journalists and the media in this country. So it’s going to be a collective effort to get to the bottom of this.”

Mr Thompson noted that he found on his visit that the workers’ allegations corroborated those of the anonymous complaints submitted to the department. He said many of the managers have either been let go or have resigned, pointing particularly at an HR head having been let go which hints “that there’s not just smoke, but there’s fire.”

“And so, as I said, a number of the Bahamian workers down there, the expat workers on there, seem to corroborate a lot of what those anonymous complaints came in from the Department of Labour. But I would say this, what got me even more concerned, in the past, maybe a month, we’ve seen a lot of managers from Norman’s Cay who either let go or resigned. In particular, we saw that an HR head was let go, and so when we see eight Bahamian HR heads resigning or being terminated, that’s a huge signal that there’s not just smoke, but there’s fire. And so we’re looking very, very closely into this. As we know our Bahamian managers, particularly those who operate in HR space, particularly in the hotel industry, they do it at the highest level. And so when we see there is problems at that part, then we maybe know that there’s serious, serious things that need to be corrected down there.

“I think the next step now is for my team to compile all of our various interviews down there. So we’ll compile a report, we will send it up to the Minister to take a view, and the minister will share with the development agencies what needs to happen. But like I said, this is only the first investigation. Day one of the investigation. We plan to go back down in the coming weeks to continue our efforts. We will try to utilide technology when we go down there. We’re going to try to secure a drone, because we understand that when they arrive, a number of persons, assuming who were not supposed to be on the island, they would have run into the bushes. And so obviously myself and my team had no way to know if that is true or not, but when we go down the next time, you’ll be certain to go with a drone, so be able to have an aerial kind of footage to see exactly what’s going on.”

Commenting on an investigation launched into Great Stirrup Cay, a private island exclusive to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), Mr Thompson noted that the “expat foreign managers” of the cruise have requested extra time to consult with their attorneys. The investigation stemmed from complaints that employees had been subjected to working 70-hour work weeks which exceeds the Employment Act’s 40-hour work week. Mr Howard added “it’s usually two sides of the story” and “the truth is somewhere in the middle”. He stated that there will be a mediation in the near future, possibly before the end of the week or early next week. 

Adding that senior management in Great Stirrup Cay are trying to correct many matters that were submitted to the Department of Labour, he said he doesn’t believe there will be any penalties, noting that it’s a question of whether the law of The Bahamas or the law of the cruise line applies.

“I don’t want to preempt the mediation, but there are questions of the applicable law to apply. As I said, these are some expat workers who may have been under the Norwegian ship line contract. So the legal question is, what, if any makes of it, if they’re working in The Bahamas, does the law with respect to the cruise line apply, or is the law with respect to Bahamian law apply? I know what the answer is, because I am an attorney, but I don’t want to preempt what’s going to happen at the mediation, where I’ve invited the attorneys from both sides for the managers as well as the company, to join in on that virtual meeting.

“No penalties at all. I don’t even think any is going to be anticipated. But like I said, we have to get down to the crux of the matter with respect to those foreign managers. And I think the question really is this, are these managers entitled to be paid for their overtime? Under Bahamian law, it says that managers simply will get their days back. But the foreign managers seem to suggest that they have some sort of agreement. I don’t know. That’s a factual issue that they were promised to be paid as opposed to getting days back. Like I said, that’s that’s an issue for their lawyers to debate. And I think we’re going to ventilate a lot of that issues at the next mediation.”

Labour Minister Pia Glover-Rolle, who noted that she received the the written overview of the initial phases of the investigation yesterday morning, added that investigations are ongoing. She said the Department of Labour is steadfast in protecting Bahamian workers throughout the country.

“This morning, I would have received the written overview of the initial phases of the investigation,” Ms Glover-Rolle said. “I am seeing serious allegations that regard non compliance with the labour laws, non compliance with environmental laws, potential violation of human rights. And of course, we are taking this very seriously. We are grateful to the employees who have reached out and given us their complaints and opened our eyes to the issues. We’re able to visit with a multi-government agency team and investigations are not only moving forward, but will be moving forward to the full extent of the law... We expect to not only work swiftly on this, but to ensure that we are fully moving to the extent that the law will provide in ensuring that our Bahamian workers are protected no matter where they work, across the archipelago. There’s the concept that on the remote islands that  there’s a lot of infraction to the laws. Well, the Department of Labour is coming to those remote islands to ensure that our workers rights are not only protected on our major islands, but also on those cays.

“This is extremely urgent, but it shows the good thing is that the Department of Labour is responding when we receive notes, messages from whistleblowers. We’re getting in there. We’re doing our due diligence, and in many instances, we’re allowing persons who are not conforming to the laws of the country to be removed from the country.”