Since buying Catalina Yachts in April, Michael Reardon has the become focal point for rumour and confusion over the future of the company in Florida.
On October 15, company president Patrick Turner announced via Facebook that Catalina Yachts was pausing production of all boats due to “short-term financial challenges.”
A copy of the eviction notice from plaintiff Catalina Yachts to defendant Michael Reardon at the Florida factory.“Rather than pushing ahead in a way that could compromise quality or consistency,” wrote Turner, “we have chosen to take a responsible pause while we finalize the support needed to move forward stronger.”
But Reardon’s future is unclear. On October 23 Catalina Yachts issued an eviction notice to Reardon. According to court documents from Pinellas County, Florida, filed September 18, Reardon failed to honour his contract with the company and now owes Catalina $50,000 for a security deposit, $20,000 in rent for May, June and July and $50,000 for each month the factory’s lease would be in effect.
In an email commenting on the situation, Turner said, “We are working toward a mutual agreement.”
The news arrived just five months after Reardon, founder of Daedalus Yachts, acquired the American sailboat giant. Now, some employees have gone online saying that under Reardon’s ownership employee paycheques have been skipped and insurance policies ended. In an interview with PY, Reardon said he already “made good on it, and we’re continuing to do that now.”
But some workers say that’s far from the truth. Lisa Cayce has worked for Catalina since 2005. She says production had been slow for a while, but once Reardon bought the company it felt like everything ground to a halt.
“Our first paycheque in May was a couple of days late. Instead of getting paid on Friday, we got paid on Wednesday,” said Cayce. After that, every paycheque seemed to come late for one reason or another. At first, they were told holidays were the problem, like Juneteenth or the Fourth of July.
Cayce’s last paystub from Catalina is dated September 17 but only covers up to the end of August.
“So all of September we worked, we got no money,” she said. “And two weeks into October, we got no money.”
Cayce estimates her and her husband, who also works at the factory, are owed close to $10,000 for more than six weeks of work.
Reardon says the company was in trouble when he bought it. At the Annapolis Boat Show, Reardon told dealers he was planning a temporary shutdown. “I announced to the dealers, the closely held ones, that we would be doing 30 days of triage, and I said it will be major.”
Screenshot from a video of president Turner laying off Catalina staff on October 14.During the shutdown, Reardon says the company’s two priorities are retaining senior staff and finding a new factory for Catalina Yachts.
“We’ve had one layoff and that’s it. I think we’re going to be bringing back 95 percent of the people that were there and then we’ll be adding to that as well,” said Reardon. “I’d made a promise to Mrs. Butler that I would keep all the employees.”
Turner agreed staff and their institutional knowledge is vital to the company: “It’s really core staff that push on the boats and gets them out the door, and they’re very valuable to us.”
Reardon had said production will return at the start of November. But Cayce says after the layoffs, many employees have since found work at Island Packet Yachts.
Cayce wants to go back to Catalina but says there is work to be done to heal the relationship. “Every day I wake up is a new day, so if by chance he changes—just be transparent with us, just pay us, make sure you’re on time every time you pay us—we’ll be all right.”