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Petra Risk Solutions’ Director Of Human Resources, Sharyn Maldonado, PHR , offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Update – ‘New I-9 Documents’.
P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.
For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…every employee has the right to raise workplace safety and health concerns without fear of retaliation or termination,†said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. “When employees are fearful or reluctant to raise these issues with their employers, hazardous conditions could go undetected until employees are injured or sickened…”
http://www.whistleblowers.gov/
“…True North will immediately post the whistleblower fact sheet and OSHA poster, in English and Spanish, in conspicuous locations at all of its work premises nationwide, where they can be seen and read by all employees. It will also provide annual training on whistleblower rights and employer responsibilities to all managers and supervisors and provide training materials to all newly hired or promoted managers.â€
As part of an enterprise wide settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, True North Hotel Group Inc., a hotel management company based in Overland Park, Kan., will pay $22,225 in back wages and compensatory damages to a former employee who was terminated from a Massachusetts location after raising workplace safety concerns. The company will also educate all its managers and notify its employees nationwide about workers’ whistleblower rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act as administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
As the story goes, a worker at True North’s Devens Conference Center in Massachusetts was subjected to disciplinary action and then terminated in October 2011 after notifying superiors about safety concerns.
The worker then filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA, which investigated and found merit to the complaint. True North has elected to settle the matter by taking corrective action.
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
“…The court held that “aliens, authorized to work or not, may recover unpaid and underpaid wages†under rights granted by the Fair Labor 
Standards Act…The appellate judges said that “numerous district courts, including the one in this case, and the secretary of labor all agree: Employers who unlawfully hire unauthorized aliens must otherwise comply with federal employment laws…â€
In a case that pit U.S. labor law against immigration law, a panel of federal appellate judges has ruled that six undocumented workers are owed about $450,000 in back pay and penalties for uncompensated work at a Kansas City restaurant — the popular Jerusalem Cafe in Westport. The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said this week that federal labor law trumped federal immigration law in this instance.
The court ruled that a former owner and former manager of Jerusalem Cafe could not argue that the workers were in the United States illegally and therefore lacked standing to sue for unpaid wages.
That argument, the appellate panel said, is akin to saying that Al Capone couldn’t have been prosecuted for tax evasion because his earnings were illegally made. (The infamous mobster was jailed on such charges.)
The lawsuit said five of the six workers had each worked 77 hours a week at the restaurant. It said the workers were known to lack official work authorizations and were paid in cash on a weekly basis.
The case attracted national attention, prompting the U.S. secretary of labor to file a brief on behalf of six workers who were employed at the restaurant in the period spanning 2007 to 2010.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/01/4383369/court-says-undocumented-workers.html#storylink=cpy
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…(the plaintiff) claims she was the target of unwanted physical contact and verbal abuse by multiple male co-workers…she contends that when 
she complained, her supervisor did nothing, but her co-workers became vindictive…”
A kitchen worker has slapped the Grand Hyatt New York with a lawsuit, claiming managers of the luxury hotel looked the other way while frisky male co-workers made her work life a living hell. She said one co-worker threatened to hire a hit man to kill her and another vowed to “beat her up†if they lost their jobs because she complained.
Her lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court, filed Monday, also names her union, the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, as a defendant for failing to intervene on her behalf.
Her lawsuit names a sous chef who she says walked up behind her and unsnapped her bra, and another colleague who allegedly walked up behind her and put his hands in her pants.
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…The EEOC’s suit charged that the hotel group refused to provide Claudia Neal, a Seventh-Day Adventist, with a religious accommodation of not having to work on her Sabbath, which is from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. Neal began 
working at the hotel in May 2009. Initially, Neal’s request not to work on her Sabbath was honored. However, a change in management occurred in October 2010, and in November of that year, the hotel group refused to provide her with a religious accommodation, and fired her…”
A hotel group which owns and operates the Comfort Inn Oceanfront South in Nags Head, N.C., has agreed to pay $45,000 and provide substantial additional relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on religion. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Eastern Division (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Landmark Hotel Group, LLC d/b/a Comfort Inn Oceanfront South; Dare Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Comfort Inn Oceanfront South; Jain and Associates, LP d/b/a Comfort Inn Oceanfront South; and JRS Partners, LLC d/b/a Comfort Inn Oceanfront South; Civil Action No. 4:12-cv-158) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
In addition to providing monetary relief to Neal, the hotel group will implement policies designed to prevent religious discrimination and conduct training on anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws. The hotel group will also provide reports to the EEOC regarding future requests for religious accommodation.
“Employers need to understand their obligation to balance the conduct of their business with employees’ needs and rights to practice their religion,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District Office. “Where there is minimal impact on the business, those religious needs must be accommodated. No person should ever be forced to choose between her religion and her job.”
For more:Â http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/7-23-13.cfm
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Training
 “Legal experts say they’re likely settle the cases for millions of dollars since the hotels do not contest the amount of tip money that they took in…Some of the hotels have already settle cases or were hit by adverse rulings. They include the Fairmont Hotel on the Big Island which paid $2.2 million and the Pacific Beach and Pagoda hotels, which paid a total of $2 million…the ruling came in the case involving two Maui hotels: the Wailea Marriott Resort and the Westin Maui. Several banquet service workers alleged in their lawsuit that the hotels imposed a 20 percent service charge but did not distribute the proceeds to workers…”
For years, Hawaii hotels regularly collected millions of dollars in tips from customers but only passed a portion of those service fees to the employees who earned them. Under a ruling by the Supreme Court today, that practice now violates Hawaii law. The high court said hotels and other businesses can only collect the tips if they disclose that they are going to keep some of the money.
Attorneys who filed class-action lawsuits on behalf of the employees say the hotels are liable for big damages. “I would say it’s going to be north of $10 million. we have $3 million on one hotel on Kauai alone,” said attorney John Perkin, whose firm has filed eight of these suits.
Boston attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, whose firm is also handling eight different class-actions against Hawaii hotels, said the ruling has broad applications beyond the hospitality industry.
“This will affect the food and beverage industry in Hawaii,” she said. “It will affect hotels, restaurants and other food and beverage establishments, catering companies, country clubs.” The cases are potentially costly because the ruling says that hotel workers can collect damages of up two times the amount in tips that the hotels took.
For more:Â http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/22848740/hotel-workers-could-get-millions-from-lost-tips
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…Despite her years of similar experience at another hotel before she started work at Extended Stay Hotels and her five years of good job performance at the hotel, the hotel paid newly hired male employees more money than it paid to Weaver, even though they performed substantially equal work, the EEOC charged. According to the lawsuit, the hotel paid a class of female guest services representatives lower wages than those paid to their male counterparts for performing equal work…”
A leading hotel chain, Extended Stay Hotels, unlawfully paid female employees lower wages than those paid to male employees for performing equal work, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Latoya Weaver worked as a guest services representative at the hotel’s Lexington Park, Md., location. Her duties included answering the telephone, making reservations and checking guests in and out.
Such alleged conduct violates the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. HVM L.L.C., D/B/A Extended Stay Hotels, Civil Action No. 8:13-cv-01980) in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Greenbelt Division after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC is seeking injunctive relief prohibiting Extended Stay Hotels from paying female employees less compensation than their male counterparts for performing equal work, equitable relief that provides equal employment opportunities for women, as well as lost wages, compensatory and punitive damages and other affirmative relief for Weaver and other similarly situated female employees who were harmed by the hotel’s discriminatory conduct.
“Although we have made great strides in narrowing the wage gap between men and women, this case demonstrates that pay discrimination remains a serious problem in the workplace,” said District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr. of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office.
EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence added, “It is disturbing that even as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EPA, some employers persist in paying women less than men for equal work simply because of their gender. The EEOC will take vigorous action to remedy sex-based wage discrimination.”
For more:Â http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/7-11-13a.cfm
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…In addition to paying the back wages and compensatory damages to the former employee, True North will expunge all references to disciplinary action and termination from his personnel file and provide a written, neutral job reference, should any prospective 
employer seek a reference for the worker…Employers must understand that every employee has the right to raise workplace safety and health concerns without fear of retaliation or termination,†said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. “When employees are fearful or reluctant to raise these issues with their employers, hazardous conditions could go undetected until employees are injured or sickened…â€
As part of an enterprise wide settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, True North Hotel Group Inc., a hotel management company based in Overland Park, Kan., will pay $22,225 in back wages and compensatory damages to a former employee who was terminated from a Massachusetts location after raising workplace safety concerns. The company will also educate all its managers and notify its employees nationwide about workers’ whistleblower rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act as administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The worker then filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA, which investigated and found merit to the complaint. True North has elected to settle the matter by taking corrective action.
Specifically, True North will immediately post the whistleblower fact sheet and OSHA poster, in English and Spanish, in conspicuous locations at all of its work premises nationwide, where they can be seen and read by all employees. It will also provide annual training on whistleblower rights and employer responsibilities to all managers and supervisors and provide training materials to all newly hired or promoted managers.
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Kansas Hotel Group Settles “Employee Termination” Lawsuit With Dept. Of Labor For $22,000 In Wages, Damages; “Workplace Safety Concerns Raised”
Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…the wage claims adjudication unit — the largest unit within the labor commissioner’s office that handles more than 35,000 claims a year brought by workers alleging they were denied proper wages — in 2012 heard wage claims within an average of 179 days from the date of filing, the shortest amount of time since 2008…If employees are retaliated against for cooperating with the state in a workplace investigation, the agency investigates those cases immediately…”
The California Labor Commissioner’s office last year assessed more than $51 million in civil penalties against businesses flouting labor laws, making for record-breaking results that have much to do with the office’s move away from conducting broad employer sweeps to instead zeroing in on bad actors, the agency’s chief told Law360 on Thursday.
The agency, led by State Labor Commissioner Julie Su since April 2011, focuses primarily on adjudicating wage theft claims, inspecting workplaces for wage and hour violations, and investigating retaliation complaints, and the agency’s report in May revealed that the office’s increasingly targeted efforts are paying off.
The agency’s bureau of field enforcement in 2012 uncovered more than $16 million in unpaid minimum and overtime wages owed to workers in the state, more than any previous year on record, and the more than $51 million in total civil penalties assessed in 2012 marked a 150 percent increase from 2010.
But an even more telling finding is how much the bureau has improved on workplace inspections resulting in civil penalty citations. Out of every 10 inspections, eight led to citations last year, resulting in a citation rate of 80 percent, a big increase from an average citation rate of 48 percent between 2002 and 2010, according to the report.
For more:Â http://www.law360.com/articles/453869/calif-labor-chief-sharpens-focus-on-workplace-violators–
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…(the plaintiff) interviewed for a team member position with the restaurant’s owner at the restaurant around Nov. 16, 2012…at the time of the interview Morrison was six months pregnant. During the interview, the owner asked Morrison a series of pregnancy-related questions such as how many months she had been pregnant; when she was expected to deliver; her childcare plans after giving birth; and how much maternity leave she planned to take…”
“Working women who choose to have children cannot be penalized or treated differently from other employees simply because they are pregnant,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District Office. “Employers must remember that refusing to hire a woman because she is pregnant violates federal law, and the EEOC will enforce that law.”
A Chick-fil-A franchise restaurant violated federal law when it refused to hire a female job applicant because she was pregnant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the EEOC’s complaint, John Charping, d/b/a Chick-fil-A at Concord Commons, refused to hire Heather Morrison because she was pregnant.   Although Morrison felt that the owner’s questions were inappropriate, she answered them because she wanted the job. Three days after the interview, the owner called Morrison and informed her that she would not be hired. The owner told Morrison to call back after she had the baby and had childcare in place. The EEOC argues that Chick-fil-A at Concord Commons denied Morrison a job because she was pregnant.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. John Charping d/b/a Chick-fil-A at Concord Commons, Civil Action No.1:13-CV-00535), after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through the agency’s conciliation process. The suit seeks back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for Morrison, as well as injunctive relief.
EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Tina Burnside added, “Pregnant women must be treated in the same manner as other applicants, and employers should not make inquiries related to pregnancy or deny a woman a job based on pregnancy.”
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. Further information about the Commission is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
For more:Â http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/6-2-13a.cfm
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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
