Monrovia – The Management of RLJ Kendeja Hotel and Villas situated along the sea-side of the Roberts International Airport Highway in Paynesville, has termed as fabricated a publication a media of bad labor practices and ill-treatments allegedly being carried out by the topnotch Hotel.
According to a release, the New Dawn Newspaper published an article on December 8, 2023 with the caption: “RLJ Kendeja Hotel accused of malpractices, ill-treatments,” thereby quoting a dismissed employee Daniel Fallah Flomo as saying “he was dismissed by the Hotel management for questioning reduction in his salary from US$135 to US$124. The Newspaper also quoted Josephine Vian, an employee of a private Security Firm (OPSI), who alleged of being slapped and dismissed for denying a Ghanaian national of entering the Hotel compound after 8pm, in accordance with the management mandate.
Most notably, the paper claimed that more than 300 staffers of the Hotel have been made redundant following management transition from an American to Ghanaian team, headed by Roberta Torkornu.
Clarity by RLJ Kendeja Hotel Management
In response to the reported allegations, the Hotel Human Resource Manager Boniface S. Kieh narrated that since the inception of the Hotel in 2009, its workforce has never exceeded 150 staff and so there is no way 300 staff can be made redundant at the hotel as reported in the local daily.
“In the first place, since 2009, when this place was opened, the permanent workforce was 150 employees. It has never gone above that. In the first place, if your workforce has never exceeded hundred and fifty persons, how can you redundant 300 staff? That alone is a contradiction,” he said.
Mr. Kieh continues that:“The first redundancy was carried out between 2016 and 2019 with less than 30 to 40 persons, when Rod Perk, a British national was the General Manager at that time, under the management team of Redefine, an English management team that was hired by Robert L. Johnson, the then owner of this resort. And, since I took over as HR Manger, there have been two redundant exercises. The first was in 2019 and the most recent one was in 2020. Well in 2019, as a result of the Economic and Financial crisis which the country was going through so management could not continue to carry the burden of that number of people, so a redundancy was carried out in consultation with the Ministry of Labor and in collaboration the workers Mother Union.”
Salary payment
The RLJ Hotel HR Manager also refuted New Dawn’s quotation of the former employee’s accusation that he was dismissed by the Hotel management for questioning reduction in his salary from US$135 to US$124. Kieh said the Company’s salary scale is above the Liberian Government official salary threshold stating, “There has never been reduction in salaries. All those who were redundant, were paid off by the RLJ Hotel management”.
However, Mr. Kieh stated that former employee Daniel Fallah Flomo was dismissed for gross insubordination to two managers including a Liberian at the company which contravenes the institution’s handbook. He also disclosed that the dismissed employee is on record for misappropriating daily sales entrusted with him and diverting client funds to his personal benefits; thus leading to deduction in his salary to repair the damage he himself pleaded guilty to, in accordance with the company’s policy.
Alleged ill-treatment
Amid accusation of ill-treatments by the Hotel management, Madam Martha M. Thompson, the head of the local staff union at the hotel, revealed cordial working relationship between the employees and managers at the resort. Madam Thompson noted since her employment with the Hotel in 2009 to current, the company’s management has always been concerned about the welfare of the staff.
“You know in the work place, there will always be some small, small problems facing the workers, but since I joined the Hotel in 2009 now and as head of the staff here, every complain I get and take it to the managers, they always make sure that problem is well investigated and resolved. The working environment is good, though sometimes we face issues, but they are not major issues like people will want to term them to be,” Martha stated.
She maintained that the Hotel management is keeping its commitment of seeking the welfare of employees, as well as ensuring a favorable working environment that would enable employees work freely without intimidation by any supervisor or manager.
Accusation of aggressive response by Hotel’s Acting General Manager
Regarding the accusation of aggressive response to its enquiry by Mr. Abraham Johnson, who was named as the Acting General Manager, the publication claimed that the two journalists arrived at the hotel when he and other managers together with the General Manager were having important discussions with some official guests at the Hotel.
However, he managed to ask permission from the meeting to listen to the media practitioners who arrived unknown to the company management; but following their questions of enquiry regarding alleged malpractices and ill-treatments by Ghanaian managers at the Hotel, he requested that because of the meeting with guests at said time, the journalists should set a suitable meeting date with him and the Hotel’s management, to provide substantial information in response to their inquiry. Mr. Johnson noted that the two reporters were impatient and promised to write an article about what they gathered from some former employees of the Hotel, and not to wait for a set date of response from the company.
Response by appropriate General Manager of RLJ Hotel
Ambrose Houphouet, the General Manager of the RLJ Hotel termed the allegations against the entity as fabricated lies against the Hotel. Mr. Houphouet clarified that he is the only General Manager at the Hotel and not Roberta Torkornoo or Abraham Johnson as reported in the Publication. He also stated that allegations against individuals named in the publication including Roberta Torkornoo, the Sales & Operations Manager are unfounded.
He said the publication was orchestrated by the dismissed employee Daniel Fallah Flomo to place a dent on the hard-earned reputation of the institution, while clarifying that there are only two Ghanaian managers that are employed by the company, while all other managers and staff are Liberians.
“I don’t know how to answer that question because there is only one General Manager at this Hotel and I am the General Manager, so you can clearly see that the story is a fabricated lie. They are trying to cook up something because maybe they are frustrated or something. This is the first time such publication has come against the company and the story is not true,”Mr. Houphouet stated.
The RLJ Kendeja General Manager maintains that the Hotel works very well with the Liberian Government through the Ministry of Labor, the National Workers Union and local union. He, however, confirmed that during the COVID-19 period and the general global challenges the hotel had to right-size but all those affected well paid off according to the provisions of the Decent Work Act. RLJ Kendeja Resort & Villas opened its doors on March 11, 2009 and is a 78-roo