By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
Freddy Knight, human resources manager of TDC, has confirmed that the company has terminated the services of four employees of City Drug Store. Mr Knight justified the action by saying there was a provision in the law to so do.
“I can confirm that over the last few weeks there were about four staff members that were terminated and in terms of effecting those decisions we would have done so in accordance with the requirements of the law. The law provides that the company either gives notice or pays in lieu of that notice so we did accordingly. Although no notice was given they were paid in lieu of that notice.
“It is untrue that the staff members were with the company for fourteen years because these employees would have joined us as we took over the City Drug Store just two years ago in May 2005. They would have been with City Drug Store for that period but not with TDC,” he said.
Three of the four persons had been employed at the City Drug Store for several years with one having given 16 years of service. A reliable source revealed that the terminated staff that were immediately replaced, almost as if they had it coming. The Observer spoke to members of City Drug Store staff as well as one of the fired persons who all said they were shocked and somewhat confused by the decision.
“They fired four women and did not even give them any notice nor a strong reason. These women have families and after being with a company for so long it was hard. One of them was on probation so that was understandable but the rest have been with us for years and all they were told is that they’re not satisfied with their service. It seemed as though it was also arranged a long time before because immediately after they left, four young women joined our team. It was as if they were waiting to replace them,” said a staff member.
According to Diane Cannonier, who claimed that she was not given any warning or notice that she was being terminated, the company plotted to fire her and have her replaced.
“I went to work on the 22nd October and I while I was getting things ready for 8:00am, which is our opening time, I got a call saying that the general manager wanted to see me so I went to his office. When I got there he asked me to hold on as he spoke to the chairman and the human resources manager (HRM). Then after a long while I was asked to join them in the office. The HRM turned to me and said, ‘Well Ms. Cannonier, we are not satisfied with your performance and we have a letter and a cheque here for you’.
“I took the letter which stated that I was being terminated and paid up until the 20th October and that the amount for the cheque included one month in lieu of notice and a proportionate holiday pay. I then took the cheque to make sure that the figures corresponded with the amount in the letter then proceeded to leave and that is when they said, ‘Don’t forget to leave your ID’ and that was it,” she said.
Cannonier stated that it seemed as though everything was planned and she felt cheated by this.
“This was planned and well planned. The letter was dated the 19th October and I received it on the 22nd. As soon as I left a staff member called me and told me another lady stepped in and was working in my position. The share behind is worse than the one in front. I have kids and mortgage and not even did they speak to me and ask me to pull up in whatever area they felt I was falling behind in,” Cannonier said.
She also said she two others that were fired are now communicating with the Labour Department on the matter.
When asked to whether or not the staff members were terminated because of poor customer service, Knight stated that he was unable to state anything further on the issue as company policies restricts him from doing so.
