A labour activist has claimed the owner of Sonesta Beach Hotel has treated workers callously by not offering redundancy pay after Hurricane Fabian damaged the hotel last year.

Raymond Russell, a former Sonesta Beach head bellman, said hotel workers should have received redundancy pay after Fabian forced the hotel to close last September. He said instead of the two-week paid vacation offered by hotel owner Clifford Schorer the workers should have received redundancy pay, as outlined in the 2000 Employment Act.

The Employment Act states: "An employee made redundant for the purposes of this Act, where the termination of his employment is, or is part of, a reduction in the employers' work force which is a direct result of any of the conditions of redundancy."

The Act gives acts of God, like a hurricane, as one of the conditions of redundancy.

Mr. Russell said the rotational shift work offered to the hotel workers since renovations began last year had dramatically cut back on their earnings and women workers, mainly housekeepers, were only working for three days a week. According to Mr. Russell approximately 70 people have been retained by Sonesta as staff, which is due to re-open on June 3 under the management of the Wyndham Hotel Group as the Wyndham Bermuda Resort and Spa Southampton Beach, initially with 100 rooms available.

He added that workers have ended up having their already low income level reduced by 40 percent. He said redundancy pay would have made up for about 15 to 30 percent of the hours lost to workers.

"It is cruel and crude the way middle management has treated workers at Sonesta Beach," said Mr. Russell. "There are a lot of women, particularly maids, who make $21,000 on average a year and are suffering."

"Why didn't the Government and the Minister of Labour intervene?" he asked.

Mr. Russell is also criticising the Bermuda Industrial Union for not monitoring Mr. Schorer's moves since his company Southampton Beach Resort bought the hotel two years ago.

"There has been a miscommunication. The union was supposed to hold up the Employment Act to Mr. Schorer. He's taking advantage of low-paid Bermudians."

In September Mr. Schorer told The Royal Gazette he had reached an agreement with the Bermuda Industrial Union and was hoping to use teams of between 80 and 100 out of his 340 staff to work on restoration on a rotational basis. Staff got full pay for the week after Fabian and for further two weeks plus full vacation benefits. Staff under 65 got half their health insurance paid and those over 65 got full coverage while the hotel was closed.

Yesterday, Mr. Schorer said he believed retaining staff after the hurricane was in the best interest for the employees and for the newly built hotel he said they had helped to create.

"I respectfully disagree with Mr. Russell on this issue. I am too sadly aware that we have had an extended layoff due to Hurricane Fabian, but this was beyond our control. Anyone who has seen the hard work we have done to preserve our staff knows that we are trying to keep as many of our great people as possible.

"We have elected to put our available capital back into the hotel in the certain belief that we will create a long-term future for all of our associates and a sustainable business model for our hotel.

"This decision, rather than throwing in the towel, declaring Sonesta dead, and paying out redundancy, will prove to have been best, I believe, for the hotel and the staff."