Pyramid Continental Hotel in Juba

The management of the five-star hotel in Juba and ex-staff for the second time, have failed to resolve the termination of contracts, despite the intervention of the Ministry of Labour, an ex-staff of the hotel has said.

Last week, some former staff of the Pyramid Continental Hotel in Juba threatened to sue the hotel after they were laid off. 

According to the nine affected staff, the management of the Hotel sent them home for 14 days of unpaid leave last month.

Again this month, they were told to go for another 15 days, an extension they protested.

In one of the termination letters seen by Eye Radio, the Pyramid Hotel stated that it has terminated the employment of its former staff due to low business and financial difficulties.

However, in a statement published in a newspaper, the management of the hotel denied any wrongdoing.

It says those claiming to have been terminated were working in the security section, and they were deployed in another sister company with full benefits, a claim rejected by the staff.

Last month, the Ministry of Labour in its advisory letter on prevention of Covid-19, asked all Private Sector and Humanitarian agencies to give non-essential staff paid-leave covered by the employers.

It also stated that employers are advised against termination of staff as a result of the impact of restrictions due to Covid-19.

William Manut, one of the staff whose contract was terminated spoke to Eye Radio today [Monday].

He stated that the Ministry of Labour summoned the hotel management to explain why it laid off staff.

Mr. Manut added that the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour tried to mediate but the parties failed to reach any consensus.

“We tried to reach a consensus but one of the managers deceived Madam [Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour], that we are going to transfer them [staff] to another company,” said Manut.

“We disagree with the management of the Pyramid Continental Hotel in the presence of the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour.”

“They condemned us for speaking to the media, something that shows our relationship with our company is not good, because we made the information public and they don’t like it. They said we have gone against their rules.”

“We are going to tell our lawyer that we disagreed and we have to follow legal procedures, actually, it pushes us to go to the high court.”

When Eye Radio contacted Mr. Yor Deng Chol, the Hotel’s Human Resources Officer, he kept disconnecting calls as Eye Radio tried to get his response on the matter.

He claimed that he was in a noisy place so he can’t speak to Eye Radio.