The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Supreme Court was yesterday said to have laid out “a road map” for former City Markets workers and pension beneficiaries to receive the multi-million dollar payout due to them, following a four-and-a-half year court battle.

Whanslaw Turnquest, the defunct supermarket chain’s former chief inventory control officer, told Tribune Business that “significant progress” towards a final payout for hundreds of persons had been made through last Friday’s ‘consent Order’.

The September 23 Order, agreed to by all parties in the City Markets dispute, stipulates that a Supreme Court registrar will conduct “an assessment and/or accounting” to determine the pension plan’s current financial position, and the sums due to each beneficiary.

Rouschard Martin, the attorney representing the workers covered by the Bahamas Supermarkets Former Employees’ committee, said the Order established a process that should “bear fruit” shortly.

He told Tribune Business: “We feel as if we have made significant progress by setting up a road map that will bear fruit, meaning that all of the interested parties to the pension plan would be paid their due amounts by lump sum.”

The consent Order, which took several months to be agreed by all parties, mandates that a Supreme Court registrar “determine the assets or missing assets” of the pension plan as at May 30, 2016.

They are also required to assess the income, expenditure and financial status of the Bahamas Supermarkets Profit Sharing Retirement Plan over the decade since January 2006, and calculate “the sums owed to the pension plan which have not been paid into the plan”.

Other tasks assigned to the Registrar involve determining the pension plan’s financial condition as at May 30, 2016; the legal costs due to the workers and their representatives; and who should pay them.

The Order requires that the sums owed to the pension beneficiaries are paid “forthwith” (immediately) once all this is determined, and that all parties - the workers, and current and former trustees - provide the Registrar with all information necessary to perform their duties.

Mr Martin and Mr Turnquest, who heads the Bahamas Supermarkets Former Employees’ committee, are alleging that the collective sum owed to workers and beneficiaries, both in terms of pension benefits and severance pay, is some $20.954 million.

This was based on a forensic accounting, but both the current trustees (Dennis Williams and Rosalie McKenzie), and the former trustees (Mark Finlayson and Philip Kemp), are arguing that their own assessments show the true sum is $12 million.

The Supreme Court registrar will now have to bridge that gap, but Mr Turnquest expressed hope that the dispute will finally be resolved “before this year is out”.

“The Chief Justice [Hartman Longley] has set the waters clear,” he told Tribune Business. “What we’re looking at now is to work out the total monies owed to the trust fund. There is a clear road map to act.

“On behalf of the employees of Bahamas Supermarkets, we are very happy that we have reached this final stage. We have been battling in court since March 2012, and we’re looking forward to this matter coming to a final conclusion, and for all and sundry to be dealt with in an equitable and professional manner.”

Mr Turnquest said the four-and-a-half year wait for former City Markets workers and pension beneficiaries to receive the retirement savings and life savings due to them continued to exact a heavy toll on hundreds of persons and their families.

“School just opened up, and a lot of people were unable to meet their financial obligations to schools and banks,” he added.

“We had a gentleman come in just yesterday with a bank letter, threatening to foreclose on his home. Mr Martin is doing his best to persuade the bank not to proceed.”

Mr Turnquest continued: “A lot of people in Freeport have medical issues. A young lady has cancer; a gentleman with a high level or arthritis in his hands from 40 years working as a butcher in the cold. His hands are damaged, and he cannot work.

“We have people in Freeport about to lose their homes. It’s a very stressful situation people find themselves in, and they’re looking for closure and for this matter to be resolved in the best interests of employees and the pension plans.

“We have a lot of frustrated former employees, and a lot of people don’t understand the legalities of the process. They’re concerned with outcomes and stages. We want them to understand we are 90 per cent closer to achieving our legal and financial objectives.”

Mr Turnquest also called on Bahamian commercial banks “to give us a little more time” and forbearance to resolve the pension fund issue, which would enable former staff to settle their outstanding obligations.

Mr Williams, one of the current pension plan trustees, did not respond to a Tribune Business e-mail seeking comment before press time last night.

However, Desmond Edwards, the attorney representing Messrs Finlayson and Kemp, confirmed the details of the September 23, 2016, consent Order.

He also acknowledged that all parties had been given seven days by the Supreme Court “to put any issues they have with the severance pay” matter in writing.

Mr Edwards, though, said his clients “are not accepting liability right now” for the severance monies due to former City Markets staff.

He explained that this was based on the City Markets pension fund being “non-contributory”, meaning the staff did not make any payments towards their retirement.

Because of the Bahamas Supermarkets Profit Sharing Retirement Plan’s non-contributory nature, Mr Edwards said former staff could choose whether to accept their retirement benefits or savings - but not both.

He added that ex-workers, mainly union members, who had accepted preference shares in Associated Bahamian Distillers and Brewers (ABDAB), the Finlayson family-controlled company, as compensation for their pension entitlement would not be included in this settlement.

Tribune Business has seen Department of Labour documents, filed with the Supreme Court, detailing meetings where Mark Finlayson promised to pay staff their due severance as soon as Super Value completed the purchase of City Markets’ leasehold interests.

Mr Turnquest, though, said Mr Finlayson had wanted to base the severance payouts on the reduced 20-hour work weeks staff were on when City Markets ceased trading, not the normal 40-hour week.

Mr Turnquest, in a September 19, 2016, affidavit, alleged that Mr Finlayson and the other defendants had “created numerous delays” relating to the pension fund dispute and court case from inception.

He claimed this was “part and parcel of a grand scheme” to delay due pension payouts to City Markets beneficiaries.