A 52-year-old expatriate who arrived in Bermuda just three weeks ago and was sacked on Friday has a warning for expats considering coming to the Island to work - don't give up your "life" back home too quickly, you could end up back there sooner than you think.

Gerald Yozzo who is originally from New York, was hired by Applied Computer Technologies (ACT) as a consultant in May.

He started work on May 27, but less than three weeks later he was sacked - without any notice period.

He said last night that he was "blown away" when they fired him on Friday and that he had no idea what his rights were as an expat, or even if he was entitled to severance pay.

To make matters worse, he found out late last night that the return air ticket the company had purchased for him expired on June 15 and was non-refundable.

But, he said, he was sure the company would agree to buy another ticket since this was part of the immigration law in Bermuda.

Mr. Yozzo said he received an e-mail on Friday at 5 p.m. to attend a conference with his boss and another colleague. "They told me I wasn't sharp enough, quick enough or proactive enough and that I should rather consider a future as an IT manager," he said.

He said the company had put him up in a guest house in Paget, but had told him he needed to be out by 11 a.m. on Monday. "I'd just put down $1,000 deposit on an apartment and paid $2,000 for a new motorcycle," he said.

He said he had also bought numerous things for the apartment, including a new television - all of which he would have to sell before leaving.

"Hopefully I will be able to sell some of these things including the bike and get my deposit back before I have to fly back to New York," he said.

Mr. Yozzo said he worked in Bermuda two years ago and had never heard of anything like this happening to anyone.

"If they know they are only going to hire expats on a trial basis for a few weeks then they should tell them that up front," he said, warning other expats to re-think selling all their positions back home before coming to Bermuda to work. He said he would never have given up his apartment in New York, sold his car and various other personal items if he had known this could happen.

He said that he was just thankful that the container with some of his furniture had not yet been shipped to Bermuda, or he would have lost money on that too.

"I have no future jobs lined up so I guess I'm back on unemployment once I get back home," he said.

He said expatriates planning to come to Bermuda to work should be warned up front that this could happen to any of them.

"It just seems that expats here have no rights," he said, adding that the company had told him he would be paid for the month of June.

Last night local attorney, Justin Williams said that Mr. Yozzo did have rights as an expatriate and needed to review his work contract before leaving the country.

"There is no such thing as no rights," he said, suggesting that Mr. Yozzo contact a lawyer to go over his contract and see what he was entitled too.

Nobody from ACT could be reached for comment last night.