The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-Atlantis table gaming supervisor has won $120,960 in damages for wrongful and unfair dismissal after he was fired over “irregularities” involving the handling and alleged theft of $500 casino chips.

Jonathan Clarke, a 20-year veteran of the Paradise Island mega resort, was awarded $35,280 more than his original $85,680 claim after the Industrial Tribunal found “clear discrepancies” in Atlantis’ case against him while branding the casino surveillance footage it relied on as “inconclusive”.

As a result, Ingrid Cooper-Brooks, the Tribunal’s vice-president, ruled that both Atlantis and Paradise Enterprises, the latter being the subsidiary that holds the casino operation, had failed to achieve the standard of having “reasonable grounds” to believe Mr Clarke had “committed gross misconduct/theft” and thus justify his termination.

And, having found he was wrongfully fired, she also ruled the former table gaming supervisor was unfairly dismissed because the “inconclusive” video was all Atlantis had to support the termination. Ms Cooper-Brooks thus awarded him $56,160 for wrongful dismissal, consisting of a year’s pay plus one month in lieu of notice, and $64,800 for unfair dismissal calculated as three weeks’ pay for each of his 20 years at Atlantis.

The Industrial Tribunal’s verdict, noting that Mr Clarke earned a weekly salary of $1,080, revealed that he was terminated on January 29, 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 lockdown that shut Bahamian tourism and the wider economy down. 

“On January 13, 2020, the applicant [Mr Clarke] was escorted to the casino manager’s office by security personnel where he was informed that a guest had reported that he put a $500 casino chip in his pocket,” the Industrial Tribunal noted. “The applicant was asked to remove his jacket and empty his pockets, but no chip was found. He offered to take off his underwear, shoes and socks but was told that was not necessary.”

This resulted in Mr Clarke’s suspension for four days from January 18, 2020, pending a probe into this incident. This was then extended for a further seven days to January 29, 2020, whereupon his return to work he was dismissed for “a major breach of conduct/theft”.

Atlantis, explaining the reason for his firing, wrote: “During our investigation it was observed by management on our surveillance footage on December 24, 2019, on six different incidents you removed a chip from the $500 stack on roulette. Such behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Mr Clarke was thus dismissed for an alleged Christmas Eve incident that occurred a month before the event that resulted in suspension.

The table gaming supervisor asserted that he was fired “without having any prior knowledge or recollection of the allegations” relating to the incidents that Atlantis management alleged occurred on Christmas Eve 2019. As a result, he launched his claim for wrongful and unfair dismissal, and demanded $85,680 compensation.

Reasserting that no chip was found when searched on January 13, 2020, Mr Clarke in his evidence said Cathy-Ann Cromarty-Johnson, Atlantis’ executive director of labour relations, brought him a sheet of blank paper to sign two days later. After signing it, he alleged he learnt it was a recommendation for him to be trained in how to handle ‘live chips’, but no training was provided.

Given the absence of such training, Mr Clarke alleged his dismissal was “premature” and he refused to sign the ‘Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance’ forms relating to his suspension and dismissal. And he added that his dismissal was when he learnt of the Christmas Eve 2019 allegations against himself for the first time.

George Daley, Atlantis’ vice-president of casino operations, in his evidence asserted that video footage of the January 13, 2025, incident showed Mr Clarke “handling cash chips” in breach of both Atlantis policies that they are not to be touched “except in exceptional circumstances” and Gaming Board of The Bahamas regulations.

“More specifically, the applicant was seen with a clipboard in his left hand while reaching over to remove a dealer’s tip from the roulette wheel and, in the process, knocking down a stack of cash chips and removing a $500 chip,” Ms Cooper-Brooks wrote in her verdict. This triggered an investigation by Atlantis’ surveillance department on January 16, 2020.

However, Mr Clarke countered in his evidence by explaining “that when observed in the footage touching the chips he was ‘chipping up’ or stacking chips to assist the dealer, which he was authorised to perform when the casino was busy”. And he claimed that, when Mr Daley and Ken Lightbourne, another senior Atlantis executive, were asked how many chips were stolen, both replied that they did not know.

Mr Daley, though, said Mr Clarke was permitted in the presence of Atlantis executives to view surveillance footage of himself at work on ten different dates between early December 2019 and January 2020.

“He [Mr Daley] explained that the video dated December 24, 2019, in particular, showed several irregularities and suspicious activity by the applicant, whose actions appeared intentional as he was observed checking out his surroundings before he acted,” the Industrial Tribunal said of Atlantis’ evidence.

“Such activities included holding a blank clipboard, which is only used to take tokens of appreciation (tokes) or tips to another table when there was no need for him to be carrying one around; reaching in with his right hand to spin the roulette wheel while placing his left hand with the clipboard over the $500 chips and, when his left hand was withdrawn, a short stack of $500 chips were no longer visible; knocking over chips with the clipboard; or flipping them with his fingers and removing chips while masking them with the clipboard.”

Mr Clarke, though, denied stealing any chips. Mrs Cromarty-Johnson argued that his dismissal was justified because the mega resort had, based on its investigation and evidence, formed “an honest and reasonable belief” he was stealing the $500 chips while also permitting the accused a chance to respond to the allegations.

The Industrial Tribunal, though, did not agree as Ms Cooper-Brooks found “clear discrepancies” in Atlantis’ evidence. She identified, in particular, differences between what was said to have been the reason for Mr Clarke’s dismissal and what was allegedly observed in the surveillance footage.

Mr Daley’s witness statement, which said Mr Clarke was terminated for “touching and removing chips”, was contradicted by the discharge notice which stated that “it appeared to the trained eye that the applicant was removing chips or attempting to move them, so on that basis we decided to terminate him”.

When challenged under cross-examination, the Atlantis casino chief confirmed Mr Clarke was fired for “removing”, rather than touching, chips. However, he then contradicted himself by saying: “The footage is inconclusive. We cannot confirm he actually removed the chips. We didn’t see that in the footage.”

The Industrial Tribunal found: “Notably, on reviewing the surveillance footage during the hearing, the Tribunal observed that there was no evidence that the applicant removed or stole any chips. The Tribunal also observed that the video clips were not clear and obscured either by distance or poor lighting.

“While the applicant [Mr Clarke] was observed knocking over a stack of chips in one of the clips, there was no evidence of any chips being missing after they were re-stacked, which Mr Daley acknowledged in cross-examination.” It also recalled that Mr Daley has discredited the video evidence as “inconclusive”, while admitting it was impossible to determine whether any were taken by Mr Clarke.

As a result, Ms Cooper-Brooks ruled that the Atlantis investigation was not reasonable and that Mr Clarke had been wrongfully dismissed. And the resort’s reliance on “inconclusive” video evidence also meant his dismissal was unfair.