Lack of information over impending layoffs has some workers at a city hotel worried about their job futures.
Some immigrants working at the 5 Hotel who are awaiting their permanent residency are concerned the layoff is going to affect their residency statuses.
According to Alberta Employment Standards code, dismissal of sponsored foreign workers can impact their residency status.
“I can’t say if there’s going to be a direct effect, but it’s a stoppage of work and there’s no severance package. That’s my biggest concern,” said Chris Corvera, who’s awaiting his permanent residency in Calgary.
One worker, who did not want to be named, said there hasn’t been a lot of information available for the staff, and he had to find out about the sale of the hotel by Googling it. “We’d noticed a lot of the big corporate guys coming in lots, and then out of the blue (Wednesday) everyone got handed notices that we’d been laid off ,” he said.
Michael Rapps, of Holloway Lodging REIT, said the company has tried to provide as much notice as possible for the 60 or so employees working at the hotel. “Our staff has done a tremendous job at the hotel and we thank them for that,” he said.
According to Rapps, there may be a silver lining. “We’ve already been receiving calls from other Calgary hotels telling us they want to hire our people,” he said.
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