Category Archives: Labor Issues

by | March 25, 2013 · 6:04 am

Hospitality Industry Technology Solutions: New California Hotel Features “Virtual Check-In System” Utilizing Tablets For Reservations And Services; Apple TVs Synch To Guests’ iPhone And iPad Applications

“…virtual hotel check-ins (feature) a Cool Concierge which bypasses the human version of concierge or front desk service…guests use the tablet-system themselves to look up directions, phone numbers, make reservations, check their in-mobile technologyflight status and print boarding passes…(the hotel’s) Smart Check-In also allows guests to bypass the front desk and straight to their rooms using radio frequency technology or RFID, or wireless, non-contact systems…”

A new hotel that heavily favors Apple users — and could alienate their Android market base — has opened steps from the Apple’s brain center in Cupertino, California. All 123 rooms at Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Aloft Hotels, whose tagline is “style at a steal,” will feature Apple TVs that can sync with guests’ iPhones, iPads or iPod Touch devices and their personal iTunes accounts.

Guests can choose among movie titles from iTunes, connect to Netflix for films, or Hulu for TV shows, and play their personal videos and photos on the in-room’s 42-inch LCD flatscreen TV.

As pointed out by CNET, it’s not the first time a hotel chain has opted to go with Apple TVs for their in-room entertainment. Staybridge Suites in London’s Olympic Village was also outfitted with the small, portable devices which enable guests to access their personal iTunes accounts.

For more:  http://www.hindustantimes.com/Travel/Chunk-HT-UI-TravelSectionPage-TravelStories/Apple-friendly-hotel-with-wireless-check-in-opens-in-Cupertino/Article1-1030447.aspx

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by | March 23, 2013 · 12:10 pm

Hospitality Industry Theft Risks: South Dakota Restaurant Account Manager Charged With Stealing More Than $100,000; Deposited Checks Into Personal Account Over 7 Month Period

“…(the defendant) is accused of depositing money into her own bank account on 12 occasions, mostly through checks, with the thefts targeting Minervas of Bismarck, N.D. and the Phillips Avenue Diner in Sioux Falls totaling $97,477…(she) also reportedly deposited hospitality industry employee theftmoney electronically three other times, for a total loss to the business of $101,600. All the thefts took place between February and September last year…”

A former account manager for Minervas and the Phillips Avenue Diner has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the company last year. Bobbie Sue Davis, 28, worked for WR Restaurants Management when the thefts began, according to court paperwork. The company manages restaurants across North and South Dakota.

During an interview with an SFPD detective on Nov. 19, Davis allegedly admitted to stealing the money, saying she’d been having “personal financial issues” that year.

Davis was arrested on a charge of aggravated grand theft by embezzlement of $100,000 or more on Feb. 5 and released on bond. A grand jury indicted Davis this week. If convicted, she could spend up to 15 years in prison.

For more:  http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130322/UPDATES/130322021/Woman-accused-embezzling-more-than-100K-from-area-restaurant-chain

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by | March 20, 2013 · 6:01 am

Hospitality Industry Health Risks: Tennessee Hotel Housekeepers Hospitalized After “Exposure To Carbon Monoxide” In Basement Laundry Room

hotel Carbon Monoxide Poisoning“…two housekeepers were in a basement laundry room when they began feeling dizzy and nauseous. One of the house keepers got physically sick…both women were taken to Memorial Hospital Hixson for treatment…”

Two Holiday Inn Express employees fell ill over suspected exposure to carbon monoxide. Officials with the Chattanooga Fire Department say they responded to the Holiday Inn Express on Hixson Pike around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Firefighters evacuated the building. They used gas monitors to check the building and found elevated levels of carbon monoxide. The building was ventilated and aired and deemed safe to return to.

For more:  http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/21722645/2-motel-employees-fall-ill-after-carbon-monoxide-exposure

Motel management and Chattanooga Gas officials are working to determine what caused the leak and repair it.

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by | March 19, 2013 · 5:52 am

Hospitality Industry Employment Risks: Maine Restaurant Owners Convicted Of “Harboring Undocumented Aliens For Profit” And “Aiding Document Fraud”; 10 Years In Prison And $250,000 Fine Per Count

“…(the defendants) helped illegal  workers obtain green cards and Social Security cards…several workers testified that they worked six to seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. with only one two-hour break. Kitchen staff said they were paid in cash. Waiters were not paid but allowed to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementkeep their tips…they face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each  count and may have to give up the profits they earned from the scheme…”

Two brothers who own a popular chain of Mexican restaurants in Maine  were convicted Monday of harboring undocumented aliens for profit and  aiding and abetting document fraud. Following an eight-day trial,  Guillermo Fuentes, 37, of Westbrook and Hector Fuentes, 39, of  Waterville were found guilty in U.S. District Court.

The charges  stem from practices at the Fajita Grill in Westbrook, the Cancun Mexican  Restaurant in Waterville and the Cancun Mexican Restaurant II in  Biddeford, between 2006 and 2011.

The  investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration Customs  Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division and the U.S.  Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the Office of Labor  Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.

The documents said Roth informed  the federal agency that in routine traffic stops in April 2008,  Westbrook police officers had pulled over Hispanic men who appeared to  work at Fajita Grill, claimed to be from Mexico and could not provide  any U.S. identification. During the investigation, James Bell, a  special agent with the Department of Homeland Security interviewed four  illegal workers, all of whom had worked for the Fuentes brothers at a  Mexican restaurant in Atlanta called El Potrillo.

For more:  http://www.pressherald.com/news/Brothers-guilty-of-profiting-off-illegal-workers-at-Maine-Mexican-restaurants.html

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by | March 15, 2013 · 6:41 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: California Restaurant Sued By Woman “Sexually Assaulted” By Employee Near Restroom; Failed To Perform Background And Reference Check

“…the lawsuit filed in San Mateo Superior Court alleges that Straits owners failed to provide a background or Hospitality Industry Criminal Background Checks (2)reference check for Guicoy that could have shed light on his “mental instability and propensity toward sexual assault…”

A Foster City woman is suing a restaurant where a dishwasher attempted to rape her as she waited to use the restroom on New Years Eve 2011. Now Mary Hagan, 35, has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Straits in Burlingame, claiming it could have performed a background or reference check on Jose Mauricio Guicoy before hiring him.

Guicoy allegedly grabbed Hagan and began pulling her into a closet with his pants unzipped, reported the San Mateo County Times. She was able to fight him off.

Guicoy pleaded no contest to sexual battery, and was sentenced a month later to two years in prison.

For more:  http://sanmateo.patch.com/articles/foster-city-woman-sexually-assaulted-by-dishwasher-files-lawsuit-against-restaurant

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by | March 14, 2013 · 5:53 am

Hospitality Industry Employment Risks: Michigan Motel Settles “Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit” For $27,500; Safety Of Unborn Fetus No Reason For Employment Exclusion

“…according  to the EEOC’s suit, Ramin fired a housekeeper after she reported her pregnancy  to them.  Management stated it could not  allow the employee to continue to work as a housekeeper because of the  EEOCpotential harm to the development of her baby, the EEOC said…”

Ramin Inc., the owner of a Comfort Inn & Suites  in Taylor, Mich., will pay $27,500 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit  (EEOC v. Ramin, Inc., 2012-cv-15015) filed by the U.S. Equal Employment  Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Title VII  of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act  (PDA), protects female employees against discrimination based on  pregnancy.  Under the statute, an  employer may not exclude pregnant women from employment based on the employer’s  supposed concerns about the safety of the mother or unborn fetus.  The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to  reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In a consent decree filed with the  U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the company agreed to  pay $2,500 in back pay and $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.  In addition, Ramin agreed to a permanent  injunction enjoining it from discriminating against an employee due to her  pregnancy or requiring a pregnant employee to provide medical documents that  releases her to work.  The decree  requires that Ramin provide training to all of its managerial and non-managerial  employees on sex and pregnancy discrimination; draft a new employee policy  regarding sex and pregnancy discrimination; post a notice regarding the suit  for all employees; and report to the EEOC for four years.  The injunction, training, policy revisions,  and EEOC monitoring constitute targeted, equitable relief that aims to prevent  similar violations in the future.

For more: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-12-13a.cfm

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by | March 13, 2013 · 6:31 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Hotel And Restaurant Employees Subjected To “Conditions Or Actions Intended To Humiliate, Harass Or Destroy Career” File “Constructive Discharge Lawsuits”

“…the intolerable or aggravated category (of constructive discharge) are actions intended to humiliate (e.g., demoting a vice president to janitor overnight); actions intended to harass (e.g., requiring a black employee to Hospitality Industry Termination Lawsuitswork extra hours for the same pay as white co-workers and punch a clock while others do not); actions intended to destroy the employee’s career or guarantee job loss (e.g., sudden, unexplained drops in performance ratings, skipped promotions, forced demotions, pay cuts)…”

Here’s how one state supreme court defined constructive discharge: “An employee who is forced to resign due to actions and conditions so intolerable or aggravated at the time of his resignation that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would have resigned, and whose employer had actual or constructive knowledge of the intolerable actions and conditions and of their impact on the employee and could have remedied the situation, but did not, is constructively discharged.”

Factors that may contribute to a constructive discharge claim—either singly or in combination—include whether an employee suffered:

  • a demotion
  • reduction in salary
  • reduction in job responsibilities
  • reassignment to menial or degrading work
  • reassignment to work under a younger supervisor
  • involuntary transfer to a less desirable position
  • badgering, harassment or humiliation by the employer
  • offers of early retirement or encouragement to retire
  • offers of continued employment on terms less favorable than the employee’s former status
  • a threat of violence or actual physical assault
  • a threat of termination

For more:  http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/43084/Termination-Guidelines.html

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by | March 12, 2013 · 6:31 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Hotel And Restaurant Management Must Conduct Criminal Background Checks To Avoid “Negligent Hiring Lawsuits”; Screening Must Be Relevant To Job Description To Avoid Discrimination

“…Hospitality employers (conduct criminal-background checks) to avoid negligent hiring lawsuits – a lawsuit from a guest or customer, for example, based on a hotel’s failure to properly screen an employee who later does Hospitality Industry Criminal Background Checks (2)harm…for each job description, (management) should prepare a memo that describes the relevance of, and need for, such information and how it is related to the particular job description…it is inconsistency in the selection of what type of background check each applicant gets that can often get employers sued for discrimination…”

According to some studies, over 90% of employers conduct criminal-background checks for some job applicants and over 70% of employers conduct background checks on all potential new hires. This includes many hospitality-industry employers. Most decision-makers want information about criminal behavior and other related data before bringing a candidate into the organization.

For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and some states are taking the position that, given the disproportionate rate of minorities that are arrested and convicted of crimes, an employer’s policy of disqualifying all applicants with criminal history can have a discriminatory impact on minority candidates and thereby violate Title VII’s discrimination laws.

Each state has its own position on the use of arrest and conviction records. Even when abiding by those parameters, there is still the need for a comprehensive, consistent set of procedures regarding the use of criminal history to avoid claims of discrimination. The key here is to identify by job description prior to hiring candidates, what kind of criminal background information (including how many years back) the company will look for and to ensure that the same level of background check is done for every applicant for that position.

Establishing a policy and procedure to make sure each applicant for a job description gets the same background check and having a defensible job-related justification for the relevancy and need for the information for each job position is critical to defending against future discrimination claims.

For more:  http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/225564/employee+rights+labour+relations/And+By+The+Way+Are+You+A+Criminal

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by | March 11, 2013 · 8:08 am

Hospitality Industry Health Risks: Washington Restaurant Closed For Multiple Health Code Violations That Led To Food Poisoning Outbreak

“…(violations included)…foods not protected from cross contamination, poor personal hygiene practices and Restaurant Health Code Violationsinsufficient handwashing; equipment not properly sanitized, handwashing facilities not working and an imminent health hazard: establishment linked to a foodborne illness outbreak…”

The Ambassel Bar and Restaurant on Jefferson Street in Seattle, Washington has been closed by health authorities after they discovered several health violations and associated it with a food poisoning outbreak. Public information officer for the Seattle and King County Health Department Katie Ross told Food Poisoning Bulletin that they are aware of two cases of E. coli associated with this restaurant in mid-February. She said that both cases were adults. One person was “briefly hospitalized” and both have recovered.

Seattle and King County health authorities closed the restaurant, which serves Ethiopian food, after a number of food safety violations were discovered and patrons who ate at the restaurant became ill.  Five violations were listed on the notification of closure.

Restaurant employees are a contributing factor in more than 65 percent of all foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S.,  according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Bacteria that causes disease can be transmitted directly from an infected food employee through food. That’s why restaurant employee health and personal hygiene are so important.

For more:  http://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2013/food-poisoning-outbreak-closes-ambassel-restaurant-in-seattle/

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by | March 10, 2013 · 8:20 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Pennsylvania Restaurant And Bar Settles “Music Copyright Infringement Lawsuit” For $9,000; Disc Jockey Played 12 Songs From Music Catalogue

“…any establishment that plays music is required to pay a licensing fee which, for bars and restaurants, is based on the square footage of the establishment…the owners agreed to settle the case to avoid the expense and Hospitality Industry Music Copyright Lawsuitsuncertainly of continuing the litigation. The settlement equates to a penalty of $750 per song. Federal law allows for penalties up to $30,000 per song…”

The owners of the Brews Brothers bar and restaurant in Jenkins Township have agreed to pay $9,000 to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a music publishing company. Broadcast Music Inc. filed suit against the bar in October 2012 after a representative from the company visited the establishment that March and witnessed a disc jockey playing 12 songs from artists who are part of BMI’s catalogue.

BMI, one of the nation’s largest music publishing companies, collects and distributes royalties to artists whose music is played on radio, television and at public venues.

BMI has been aggressively enforcing its copyrights in the region over the past several years, filing at least 11 federal lawsuits against various establishments in Luzerne, Lackawanna and other nearby counties since 2010, according to court records.

The settlement, filed Thursday, says Brews Brothers acknowledges it violated the copyrights for the songs.

For more:  http://psdispatch.com/news/333542/Bar-settles-copyright-infringement-lawsuit

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