Petrojam’s former human resources manager, Yolande Ramharrack left the job more than a week after agreeing to the $9.2-million separation package offered by the oil refinery.

According to a detailed copy of the settlement agreement tabled by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the House of Representatives yesterday, the controversial human resources manager tendered her resignation on November 22, 2018, less than two years after joining the refinery, and eight days after signing the agreement on November 14, 2018.

The document showed that she had accepted the option from the management after six weeks of negotiations between her attorneys, Nigel Jones & Company, and Petrojam’s lawyers Samuda & Johnson.

The document also showed that the “confidentiality agreement” was proposed by Ramharrack’s lawyers on October 22 when they offered an option to going to the Industrial Disputes tribunal (IDT), suggesting that the arbitration could take up to two years.

The information from Petrojam showed that Ramharrack’s employment contract with the refinery, signed by former General Manager Floyd Grindley, indicated that she was employed at an annual salary of $12.9 million from January 30, 2017, two weeks before her confirmation on February 13, 2017. Her monthly salary of $1.081 million included $111,802 for transportation and subsistence; $57,000 for duty allowance; and a $69,103-contribution to her salary from the company because she was non-pensionable.

The contract letter from Grindley pointed out that she had been offered employment on terms and conditions offered to other Petrojam employees, including: the need to provide references satisfactory to the company; providing copies of certificates for all her formal qualifications; being passed as fit, after a full medical examination by an approved medical practitioner; being free from any contractual restrictions preventing her from accepting the offer; and pre-employment substance testing as well as agreeing to “random testing during employment”.

Her working hours were for a 40-hour work week, between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, as well as overtime work on weekends, public holidays or to work on shift, or a flexible work week. Ramharrack was also prohibited from communicating with the media, “of whatever kind”, in terms of information relating to the company, its employees and independent contractors, without the written approval of the general manager.

The employee’s procedures included individual performance appraisals, which were conducted twice per year and for the full year ending March 31, and monthly reports on actual performance “against the agreed performance criteria”.

Trouble began in September 2018, following a letter to the refinery’s management from permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Audrey Sewell, raising some concerns.

Ramharrack’s lawyers took the position that Petrojam had “threatened her with appropriate disciplinary action”, from September 26, 2018, in relation to proof of her qualification and the status of her continuing studies, following what they called an “unfortunate newspaper Gleaner report” on September 14, which quoted Sewell’s references to concerns she had raised with the board chairman.

“It is clear from the foregoing that you have a mandate to remove our client from her position… and that you have been acting in accordance with the dictates of her external foes,” the lawyers contended.

The lawyers also said that after reviewing her contract with Petrojam, they were convinced that Ramharrack had entered into a “legally binding” agreement, and that “orchestrated tactics” against her were “unfair, unlawful and amount to, among other things, tortious harassment”.

Nigel Jones & Company then sent a second communication to Petrojam on October 22, offering a proposal for settlement of the dispute for two years’ salary plus outstanding benefits, including outstanding vacation pay, performance incentives and refund of her pension contributions.

“An appropriate release and discharge will also be signed by both parties in relation to any past, present or future claims. A confidentiality agreement will also be signed,” Ramharrack’s lawyers insisted.