[vimeo http://vimeo.com/69501224]
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.
Comments Off on P3 Hospitality Industry Risk Report: “New I-9 Documents” By Petra Risk Solutions’ Director Of Human Resources Sharyn Maldonado, PHR
Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…These women were subjected to a double whammy of discrimination,” said District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office. “They were paid a lower hourly wage and regularly scheduled for fewer work hours than their male counterparts. That’s why we 
redoubled our efforts to win justice for them…EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence added, “The EEOC is strongly committed to enforcing the equal pay laws and will take whatever action necessary to defend people’s rights in the workplace…”
Enforcement of equal pay laws and targeting compensation systems and practices that discriminate based on gender is of one of six national priorities identified by the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan.
Market Burgers, L.L.C., doing business as Checkers, a fast food restaurant chain, violated federal law by paying women less than men and scheduling them for fewer hours than their male counterparts because of gender, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.
EEOC General Counsel David Lopez said, “This case demonstrates the significance of the agency’s strategic enforcement plan, reminding employers that the agency will exercise its authority to eliminate sex-based wage disparities in the workplace.”
According to the EEOC’s suit, LaToya Snyder began working as a cashier/sandwich maker at the company’s Checkers restaurant in West Philadelphia and was promoted to a shift manager position in 2010. The EEOC charges that Checkers routinely paid Snyder and other female shift managers lower wages than male shift managers even though they performed the same duties, including giving assignments and directions to other employees and scheduling and approving breaks. Checkers also paid female cashiers/sandwich makers less than their male counterparts even though they did substantially equal work, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC further charges that Checkers suppressed the wages of Snyder and other female shift managers and cashiers/sandwich makers by scheduling them for 20 to 25 hours per week, even though they had requested full-time hours, while their male counterparts routinely were scheduled to work, on average, more than 30 hours per week. The general manager also required female employees to leave work early if the restaurant was not busy while male employees were permitted to work a full eight-hour shift.
For more:Â http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/8-12-13.cfm
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Pennsylvania Restaurant Sued By EEOC For “Gender Discrimination”; Female Workers Paid “Lower Hourly Wage”, “Fewer Regularly Scheduled Hours”
Filed under 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.
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Kansas Hotel Group Pays Fired Worker $22,000 In Back Pay And Damages; Filed “Whistleblower Complaint” After Raising Workplace Safety Issues
Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
“…four (employees) were arrested…(and) found to have outstanding federal warrants for deportation and turned over to the Department of 
Homeland Security…Heng Li, 27 of Brooklyn had a credit card skimming device and a counterfeit Michigan ID card. He was charged with possession of a forged instrument, scheme to defraud, unlawful possession of a skimmer device and unlawful possession of personal identification information, it is also believed he is in this country illegally…”
The Bethlehem Police Department raided the Golden Town Buffet Monday morning in connection with an identity theft investigation. The restaurant is located at 385 Route 9W in Glenmont.
According to the department, customers credit card and debit card information was compromised after they ate at the restaurant sometime between June 14th and August 5th. Bethlehem Police are asking anyone who used their card at the restaurant during that time frame to check their bank statements and immediately report any fraudulent transactions to their respective bank and local law enforcement agency as soon as possible.
The Bethlehem Police are being assisted in this investigation by the Albany Police, Colonie Police, New York State Police New Scotland, New York State Police Clifton Park, East Greenbush Police, US Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security.
Li was arraigned in the Town of Bethlehem Justice Court on Monday evening and remanded to the Albany County Jail without bail. He is due back in court on Thursday.
Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Labor Issues, Liability, Risk Management, Technology, Theft
“…Sixty employees were without work following the fire. The business owners’ insurance coverage allowed the staff to continue earning a 
paycheck while the restaurant was closed…Calico County partner Scott Blair said they retained about 80 percent of their pre-fire staff and hired about 40 new team members for the re-opening…”
Calico County was forced to shutdown after a fire damaged the restaurant (in the early morning on November 26, 2012)… Police were alerted to the fire after receiving a call from an alarm company that a commercial burglary alarm went off at approximately 2:37 a.m. Monday, according to dispatchers with the Fort Smith Police Department.
Fort Smith police arrived at the scene and alerted the fire department when smoke was seen coming from the building. Fort Smith Department Battalion Chief Tery Graves said responders quickly put out the flames, however, the restaurant suffered severe smoke and water damage. According to a preliminary investigation, the fire appeared to have started in the kitchen area of the restaurant.
For more:Â http://5newsonline.com/2013/08/04/popular-fort-smith-restaurant-opens-back-up-after-fire/
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Arkansas Restaurant Closed By Fire And Water Damage Reopens After 8 Months; Business Owners’ Insurance Pays For 80% Of Staff To Be Retained
Filed under Fire, Insurance, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Structural Damage
“…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
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Missouri Restaurant Owes Six “Undocumented Alien Workers” $450,000 In Back Pay And Penalties; Court Rules “Federal Labor Law Trumps Federal Immigration Law”
Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…According to court documents, (the defendant) ran a scheme in which she made various charges from the company account into six of her 
personal accounts…part of her duties included checking guests into the hotel and processing cash and credit card payments…from early 2009 to late 2010, authorities say she diverted $42,954.32 from the company account…”
A former employee of a Tallahassee hotel is facing charges she stole more than $42,000 from the business by diverting money onto personal credit cards. Chyrell Martin, 33, a former front desk clerk and manager at the Collegiate Village Inn was booked into Leon County jail on Monday. Martin, of Georgia, is facing charges of grand theft and fraud to obtain property.
Martin, who worked as a manager at the hotel from 2005 to 2010, resigned suddenly in Oct. 2010 after the investigation into the irregularities on the company account began, according to court documents.
She is currently in Leon County jail.
For more:Â http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130730/NEWS/130730007/
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Crime Risks: Florida Hotel Manager Charged With Stealing Over $42,000; Diverted Company Charges To Personal Account
Filed under Crime, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Theft
“…(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.
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Hotel Sued By Employee For “Sexual Harassment” And Physical Abuse; Managers Failed To Intervene
Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…(the suit claims) the hotel was obligated to provide a safe place for its employees to work, (but) the outside stairwell doors were left unlocked as 
part of hotel policy…the suit claims the hotel’s employees routinely left exit doors to the stairwells unlocked from the outside, and the family’s attorney said this allowed the homeless (man) to come inside and sleep…the safety threat posed by the unlocked doors was foreseeable and should have been prevented…”
The family of a security guard who was stabbed to death while on duty has sued the hotel where he worked. Richard Campbell was stabbed to death on his 58th birthday, Dec. 7, when he confronted a man in the stairwell of the Hilton Netherland Plaza in downtown Cincinnati. Joseph Tucker pleaded guilty last month to one count of murder in the slaying and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Tucker said he was high on marijuana and drunk at the time, and he said he’s not sure why he stabbed Campbell. Police said Tucker was in the process of stealing something when the security guard confronted him. Campbell’s brothers and sisters filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, claiming the hotel was negligent.
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Ohio Hotel Sued For “Negligence” By Family Of Security Guard Stabbed To Death By Homeless Man; “Unlocked Outside Stairwell Doors” Posed Safety Threat
Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Labor Issues, Liability, Maintenance
