"Sofitel, terminated workers reach agreement over unpaid compensation", 18 November 2020

Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra hotel and terminated workers reached a resolution … over unpaid dues and bonuses, a day after the former employees protested outside the Labor Ministry.

Meeting notes, signed by Labor Ministry official Nin Vannak, shows that the hotel agreed to pay the terminated workers any outstanding payments, including bonuses, seniority pay and the return of deposits collected from employees…

Former Sofitel employees, who were terminated … on account of dropping tourism arrivals during the pandemic, had protested outside the Labor Ministry …, after officials had not forwarded their complaint to the Arbitration Council.

Phat Saruon, leader of the Independent Solidarity Union at the hotel, said representatives of the hotel said they would calculate the outstanding payments within a week. He said the union hoped that hotel’s calculations matched those of the workers, which was around $10,000.

“Now, we are waiting for the calculations from the hotel in a week,” Saruon said.

Around 53 workers had protested unpaid dues, but Saruon said only 49 would get the payments because four staffers had quit before their contracts ended…

Charles-Henri Chevet, general manager at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra, did not divulge details of the negotiations and only said that the hotel would follow Labor Law regulations.

He said that the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism left the hotel with no option but to furlough workers or make some staff redundant. He mentioned a $83 million fund set up by Sofitel’s parent company, Accor Hotels, to assist workers affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic…