ST. THOMAS – A V.I. Superior Court judge on Friday ordered Social Hospitality Group, the company that operates St. Thomas Social, to pay more than $246,000 to a former bar manager and her partner. The judge found the company withheld her wages, sent her fake proof of payment, and was responsible for violent, slur-filled threats its president, Brett “Mac” McClafferty, sent to her partner.
Judge Sigrid Tejo entered a total judgment of $196,735.89 for Kirrye’ Majors, the restaurant’s former bar manager and corporate mixologist. She entered a separate $50,000 judgment for Robert Sargent, Majors’ partner. The judgment followed an August 17 bench trial held via Zoom.
According to the judgment, Majors signed a contract in March 2024 for a $50,000 annual salary. After the restaurant closed for part of the 2024 hurricane season, she stopped receiving pay. In October 2024, McClafferty sent her a screenshot of a $1,596.82 wire transfer marked as sent. Tejo found Majors never received that money. The company then gave her a check for $1,516.82, which bounced. Tejo found the check “was never intended to be paid when issued.”
In November 2024, the company’s accountant confirmed Majors was owed $3,688.98. McClafferty told the accountant he wanted to “get this off his plate,” but the money was never paid. Tejo noted the company presented no evidence that Majors was not owed the money.
The threats began when Sargent messaged McClafferty on Facebook demanding that Majors be paid. Over two days, McClafferty replied with a series of messages, quoted in the judgment, that included repeated homophobic slurs.
According to the judgment, on November 9, 2024 Sargent messages McClafferty, “Pay my girl on the agreed upon payment! Not only has she not got the agreed upon payment for her work, her account is in the negative because of your bad business practices! MAN UP AND STOP BEING A PIECE OF (OBSCENITY).”
McClafferty responds, “You want to say something to me Bobby? I'll meet you any place, any time, any where, and I'll rip your ugly (vulgarity) face off your skull. Keep (obscenity) with me and I promise you'll find out."
"You are a hideous, disgusting, vile, human – and the next time you see me you better have a gun, because if you don't, I'm ripping your head off your neck (obscenity),” McClafferty wrote. “You don't know me or my family. I will erase you and everyone you love.”
Both Majors and Sargent testified that they feared for their safety and still do. Tejo noted that McClafferty knows where they live and that both work in the Havensight area near the restaurant. She found the messages were unprovoked and out of all proportion to a request for unpaid wages, and called them conduct “intolerable in a civilized society.”
Tejo awarded Majors her unpaid wages plus 9% interest, $68,900 in emotional distress damages tied to the unpaid wages and false payments, $25,000 in emotional distress damages tied to the threats, and $98,488.98 in punitive damages. Sargent was awarded $25,000 in emotional distress damages and $25,000 in punitive damages. Both are also entitled to attorneys’ fees, in amounts the court will set later.
Sunil Sharma, the company’s vice president and its other 50% owner, represented the company at trial.
Majors first filed her claim in Small Claims Court in May 2025. The case moved to Superior Court after the defendants asked to be represented by attorneys.
The judgment runs only against the company. McClafferty, who is president and a 50% shareholder of Social Hospitality, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in November 2025. That filing put the claims against him personally on hold, and they remain pending. Tejo wrote that her findings about McClafferty’s conduct were made only to establish the company’s liability for the actions of its president.
The plaintiffs’ attorney Michael L. Sheesley filed a proposed order this afternoon, asking the court to order Social Hospitality Group to pay $28,870.25 in attorney’s fees and costs, and would add that amount to the judgment so it can be collected the same way. The court has not yet ruled on the request.
