BELMOPAN, Belize – The former director of the Belize Tourism Board (BTB), Karen Bevans, has been awarded more than BDZ$800,000 (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) after she successfully sued the BTB over her dismissal when the John Briceño administration took office in 2020.
Justice Genevieve Chabot handed down the ruling on Monday after Bevans filed the lawsuit against the BTB and the Ministry of Tourism for dismissing her without cause, alleging that the contract awarded to her by former minister of tourism Manuel Heredia Junior was illegal.
“Mrs. Bevans sued the BTB after she was terminated. The BTB filed a counterclaim against her. That arose because when they wrote her to tell her that she was being terminated, they said we’d pay you a year’s salary, which amounted to maybe BDZ$700,000 or BDZ$600,000, whatever it is,” said her attorney and former prime minister, Dean Barrow.
He said that he wrote back to the BTB dismissing the offer, adding that when the request was made, “they said we‘ll do this by way of an ex-gratia payment.
“Now ex-gratia always means that we’re doing it, as it were, out of the goodness of our heart. But they said that while it was ex-gratia, her acceptance had to be conditioned on her agreement that she would not pursue the rest of her salary until the end of the unexpired portion of the contract.”
Barrow said he wrote back to say that’s nonsense but that the BTB “still deposited that year’s salary in her account.
“Since we proceeded to sue, they counterclaimed for the return of the amount they had put in her account. Although I looked at it and felt that the law was on our side, we could have claimed for the seven hundred and sixty-odd thousand, which was the balance of Mrs. Bevans‘ contract, minus the one-year salary they had paid, but I thought that would be greedy.
“We accept the one-year salary, and we will deduct that from the entirety. They weren‘t satisfied as I indicated, so they claimed for that year‘s salary to be returned. They also lodged what is known as an ancillary claim.”
Barrow said that the BTB had also put up a defense and a counterclaim to Mrs. Bevans’ claim. Still, they joined the ex-minister of tourism Manuel Heredia, the ex-chair of the BTB Board of Directors, and Einer Gomez, the ex-deputy chair Glenford Eiley.
“This ancillary claim that the BTB brought against those three was to this effect, if the BTB said, we lose against Karen Bevans whatever we have to pay, you will have to contribute to,” Barrow said.
Barrow also said that the claims brought against the former minister and the two other BTB officials were dismissed.
“That ancillary claim was dismissed with costs to the three ancillary defendants, Heredia, Gomez, and Eiley, and of course, Mrs. Bevans claim for the seven hundred and sixty-nine thousand and odd dollars, which represented the balance of her emoluments that she would have been entitled to have the contract proceeded.
“She got that, plus prescribed costs which amounted to eighty-one thousand, the judgment merely says she gets a prescribed cost for which she asked,” Barrow said.
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