CedarBridge Academy's board spent more than a year drawing up new contracts for managers who said they were working without any — only to find contracts had been in place for some all along.

The board of governors says a number of managers told them they were working with no contracts when a review of employees' records took place about 18 months ago.

Managers are said to have reiterated that position on a number of occasions, with the board putting together new contracts in compliance with the Employment Act.

However, shortly after new contracts had been developed — and become a source of controversy in The Royal Gazette — old contracts were discovered to be on file in a manager's office, according to the board.

All the new contracts were then withdrawn, leaving some of the managers tied to their initial ones; although the board would not specify what happened with each individual for confidentiality and legal reasons.

The board released a statement yesterday, saying: "Over the past year the CedarBridge Academy Board of Governors (CBA BOG) has been engaged in an exercise of re-establishing employee records, the last group being the managers' records.

"It was noted in the Witchiira Mould Enquiry that some records were missing and in ensuing discussions held at the Bermuda College it was revealed that many records regarding staff at the CedarBridge facility were missing.

"The board engaged in a process of re-establishing employee records.

"In various CBA BOG meetings when speaking with and questioning managers regarding employment contracts, they responded that they had none.

"To ensure compliance with the law — Bermuda Employment Act 2000 — the CBA BOG initiated measures to redevelop contracts.

"When meeting with the CBA BOG on April 27, 2010, one manager reiterated that they had no employment contracts and at least one mentioned that the documents had been stored on a memory stick which was corrupted.

"It was very disheartening to discover on April 29, 2010, that there were three managers' contracts on file in a manager's office. Information was inadvertently shared when the location of one manager's employment contract was revealed by the said manager.

"In light of the revelation, the CBA BOG immediately withdrew all of the new statements of employment/ contract offers for managers in a letter dated on April 30, 2010.

"If the CBA BOG was aware of these contracts it would not have spent well over a year trying to recreate such documents."

On April 23, this newspaper reported how five CedarBridge managers were asked to sign new contracts allowing them to be fired at any time. The board said it was in negotiations with managers to finalise the terms of the contracts.

This newspaper has also stated that one manager, Bussie Ible, was sacked on May 3 — that is now the subject of an imminent court hearing.

The board includes chairman Bermuda Industrial Union chief organiser George Scott, deputy Lovitta Foggo, the Government Whip, head of human resources Linda Franks with about six other members.

In its statement, the board also replied to allegations about the contracts over the past few weeks. Regarding claims that the board had changed managers' contracts, the board stated: "The CBA BOG had no such knowledge of any pre-existing contracts until April 29, 2010. This is demonstrative of misinformation and prevarication."

Bermuda Public Services Union head Armell Thomas has called for the board to resign, saying managers had been stuck on the same pay for two years and the board had refused to recognise the managers' new membership of the BPSU; while one former CedarBridge teacher accused the board of being "heavy-handed".

The board responded yesterday: "Proper business practices were suggested in the Witchiira Enquiry and, in keeping with this recommendation, the CBA BOG attempted to ensure that proper salary increases were being applied according to employment contracts of managers who are the junior officers of the body corporate.

"CedarBridge Academy BOG demonstrated what is considered best practices in business today, actions which were previously not adhered to.

"The employees described the CBA BOG as being heavy-handed yet gave no examples of such and still have provided no formal grievances to date. There are none among the industrial employees who have been mishandled or terminated. At no time were managers told that they could not join a union."

Responding to a claim that jobs had been taken from Bermudians, the board said it ceased outsourcing maintenance jobs because it was decided they could be done in-house.

"The CBA BOG is responsible for ensuring that the people's money, all 65,000-plus persons, is spent wisely," it stated.

"It makes no apologies for exercising fiscal prudence in its governance of CedarBridge Academy that is in essence a 200-day operation for the majority of employees."