Category Archives: Liability

by | October 6, 2013 · 7:56 am

Hospitality Industry Health Insurance: Restaurants That Are “Applicable Large Employers (ALE)” Must Comply With Affordable Care Act “Measurement Period” Beginning November 1; Workers Classified As “Full-Time” If They Work Over 30 Hours Per Week

Across the country, many restaurant operators are being forced to make a difficult choice: Do they hire fewer employees, reduce the hours of Hospitality Industry Health Insurancecurrent employees or raise menu prices? For some, the answer may be a combination of the three. But regardless of the conclusion they reach, there are no easy solutions…And they’ll have to make those decisions quickly, as the notification period begins in a few weeks and soon the Affordable Care Act will require businesses with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees to offer health coverage to those employees or face significant penalties.

Without changes, the Affordable Care Act will hurt economic growth and make flexible work schedules for employees more limiting to offer.

The irony is that many restaurant owners already offer health coverage to their full-time employees. However, they define a full-time workweek as 40 hours, which is the accepted definition across most industries. Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act has redefined “full time” employees as those who work an average of 30 hours per week in a given month. This means that restaurants and other businesses that have always operated as small businesses are now considered “large employers” under the law, and therefore are responsible for health care costs that could reach well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

While restaurant jobs are sometimes unfairly described as low-wage, menial work, the industry is one of the few that still allows employees to prove themselves and work their way up. One in every 3 Americans have worked in a restaurant at some point in their life, and many who work in restaurants chose to do so because of the flexibility in scheduling the industry offers.

This is an industry that accommodates part-time and full-time opportunities. It’s also an industry where people can begin their careers and work life with minimal experience, and learn not only about hospitality and service but also finance, advertising and other business and leadership skills.

Unfortunately, if the Affordable Care Act takes effect in its current form and redefines the full-time workweek as 30 hours, those opportunities could be significantly limited. It very likely means fewer hours for part-time employees and a more rigid scheduling structure.

For more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/obamacares_acute_affliction_on_restaurant_industry_commentary-228092-1.html

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by | October 5, 2013 · 5:31 am

P3 Hospitality Industry Risk Report: “Hospitality Hoaxes And Scams” By Petra Risk Solutions’ Director Of Risk Management Todd Seiders, CLSD

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/52048409]

P3Petra Risk Solutions’ Director Of Risk Management, Todd Seiders, CLSD , offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Update – ‘Hospitality Hoaxes And Scams’.

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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by | October 4, 2013 · 5:43 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Illinois Hotel Sued For Violating “Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)” By Firing Employee In Need Of Small Oxygen Tank; Obligation To Work With, Accomodate Her Disability

“… the 51-year-old (woman) filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the Paddle Wheel Inn violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by dismissing Hospitality Industry ADA Lawsuitsher without attempting to accommodate her need for a small oxygen tank…The lawsuit also alleged that earlier this year the inn fired Colvin’s daughter, who also worked at the hotel as a desk clerk, just one day after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission substantiated Colvin’s claim of discrimination…Barry Taylor, Colvin’s attorney, said that under federal law the inn had an obligation to work with Colvin on a reasonable accommodation for her disability and should not have jumped to any conclusions about whether she would be able to perform her duties…”

Donna Colvin loved her job as the overnight desk clerk at the Paddle Wheel Inn, especially the quiet hours spent tidying the lobby and laying out the morning’s continental breakfast while guests were still fast asleep.

Even when respiratory ailments briefly sidelined her two years ago, Colvin was determined to keep working at the charming inn, situated on the banks of the Rock River about 90 miles west of Chicago. Heeding her doctor’s advice, Colvin informed the inn’s manager that she would have to be on oxygen while she worked. The next day, she learned by letter that she had been fired.

The suit contended the inn lied in its dismissal letter by telling Colvin she was being let go because she had failed to cover her shifts during several brief stints in the hospital.

“To assume that someone, just because they’re using oxygen, would be bad for business is really a knee-jerk reaction that is unwarranted,” said Taylor, an attorney for Equip for Equality, a disability rights legal advocacy organization based in Chicago.

For more:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-disabilities-lawsuit-20131004,0,2456004.story

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by | October 3, 2013 · 5:30 am

Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Texas Hotel Faces “Wrongful Death & Gross Negligence Lawsuit” After Electrocution Of Young Boy; Pool Light System Did Not Have GFCI, Meet Electrical Codes

“…An investigation after the electrocution death found that the pool “did not meet applicable city, state and national electrical codes” Hospitality Industry Wrongful Death Lawsuitsand did not have Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) on the pool light system which are normal installations in pool construction to prevent electrical surges…Brown Electric Inc., had been hired by Hilton to bring the pool into compliance but, according to a city of Houston inspector, had performed work without obtaining the proper permits. After the death Hilton and Brown were cited for “use of electrical system which constitutes a hazard to safety, health and public welfare.”…”

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, a Missouri City family alleges “gross negligence of epic proportions” for the swimming pool electrocution death of a young man at a Hilton Hotel swimming pool. Raul Hernandez Martinez, 27, and his family spent the Labor Day weekend at the Hilton Houston Westchase hotel at 9999 Westheimer in West Houston.

They were at the swimming pool at dusk when the lights came on automatically. Eyewitness accounts, and now a civil lawsuit, detail how an electrical current immediately surged through the water. David Duran, 11, “suddenly cried out as his body convulsed and he began to float helplessly near the pool light in the deep end,” according to the lawsuit the family filed against Hilton Hotels and the Houston-area electrical contractor Brown Electric Inc., which had performed recent upgrades to the pool’s electrical system.

The boy’s mom Isabel Duran reached for her son and was shocked as well and knocked unconscious. She was revived via CPR and suffered several broken ribs when family members and bystanders dragged her from the pool. The boy’s brother, Raul Hernandez Martinez then fought through the electrical current to retrieve his little brother and push him to the edge of the pool where others helped pull him out.

For more:  http://www.khou.com/news/local/Family-files-lawsuit-in-hotel-pool-electrocution-death-226219641.html

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by | October 1, 2013 · 5:55 am

Hospitality Industry Theft Risks: Louisiana Hotel Employee Arrested For Stealing Over $34,000 From “Night Deposits”; Altered “Drop Log” And Inflated “Reward Point System”

“…As a controller at the hotel, (the employee) had been responsible for removing and verifying nightly deposits cashiers made into the Hotel Employee Theftsafe. His duties included checking these funds against a corresponding drop log and hotel records…A total of 97 deposits were found to be missing $34,280.53, according to an arrest warrant…to further conceal the scheme, (he) also is accused of falsely inflating the hotel’s reward point system, a program that allows guests to redeem points for services…”

An employee at the Renaissance hotel in Baton Rouge is accused of stealing more than $34,000 from hotel safe deposits and altering financial records to cover his tracks, according to court records. East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies issued an arrest warrant for Matthew D. Dziadosz, 38, 8741 Pecan Tree Drive, on one count of felony theft. Detectives began an inquiry in June after an internal audit turned up discrepancies in the hotel’s deposits and accounting records.

“It was noted that varying amounts of cash were systematically removed from the daily dropped envelopes,” Detective Kevin Chenier wrote in the warrant.

Hotel records showed more than three dozen instances in which drop log entries had been altered and another 12 entries omitted entirely.

“This would have given the impression the employee had not dropped an envelope at all,” Chenier wrote.

In some instances, Dziadosz re-wrote an entire drop log, the warrant says. He had been expected to document erroneous or missing deposits, the warrant says, but made no reports “consistent with the volume of falsely reported errors or missing drops.”

For more:  http://theadvocate.com/news/7199061-123/hotel-employee-accused-of-pocketing

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by | September 30, 2013 · 6:21 am

Hospitality Industry Health Risks: Restaurants Must Make Food Safety A “Core Value”; Lack Of “Hand Washing, Food Holding Temperature Controls” Remain Biggest Risk To Customers

“…Hand washing and proper holding temperatures — the basics of food safety — have not changed in 30 years, said Moore of Eat’n Restaurant Kitchen Health RisksPark. The key is keeping the message fresh so that employees pay attention…with a workforce largely under the age of 25, employers need to make sure their messages are quick and easy to grasp. Moore said he relies on lots of colorful visuals, and customized posters, comics, video clips featuring celebrities, games like Pandemic 2, and stuffed-animal germs and microbes are among his favorites…”

Food safety “needs to be part of your core values,” William Moore, director of safety and security for Eat’n Park Hospitality Inc., the Homestead, Pa.-based parent of the 75-unit Eat’n Park family-dining chain, said during his keynote speech. “If it’s not in your core values, your mission statement, then it’s not a priority.”

The symposium occurred against the backdrop of a Cyclospora outbreak that had sickened 642 people in 25 states, leading to 45 hospitalizations but no deaths, throughout the summer. The cause of the outbreak was still under investigation at press time, although a salad mix from Taylor Farms de Mexico served at Darden Restaurants Inc. in two states had been implicated in about 240 of the illnesses.

Tugging at the heartstrings doesn’t hurt either, said several attendees. Al Baroudi, Ph.D., vice president, quality assurance and food safety for The Cheesecake Factory Inc., the Calabasas Hills, Calif.-based operator of 175 upscale casual-dining restaurants, shows his audiences an image of the hundreds of children and adults that have died during foodborne illness outbreaks to drive home the point that lives are stake.

For more:  http://nrn.com/food-safety/7-steps-ensuring-restaurant-food-safety?page=2

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by | September 29, 2013 · 6:05 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Issues: Michigan Hotel Renovates Rooms To Accomodate Smokers (And Medical Marijuana Users); “Smoke-Free Air Laws” Do Not Apply To Outside Patios

“…Under the state’s Smoke-Free Air Law, which went into effect in May 2010, tobacco smoking is prohibited inside places where Hotel Guest Smoking Issuespeople work, including hotels, bars and restaurants. But the law doesn’t apply to smoking outside — hence the patios…The law also doesn’t mention cannabis smoke… Betty Aldworth, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said “marijuana-related tourism is the fastest-growing sector of the marijuana industry…states with both medical marijuana laws and a flourishing health care industry — such as Grand Rapids — destinations for ill people to legally use medical marijuana.

The Howard Johnson franchise on 28th Street in Grand Rapids has seen occupancy soar since owner Bob Sullivan made a seemingly unfashionable business decision: accommodate smokers. And not just the tobacco variety. Sullivan caters to marijuana smokers, as well.

Twenty rooms already have been renovated to accommodate smokers. And by the time Sullivan’s done, 60-80 of the hotel’s 155 rooms will allow smoking — accommodating medical marijuana patients as well as tobacco smokers.

Michigan legalized medical marijuana in 2008, and Grand Rapids decriminalized marijuana last year — making possession of a small amount a civil infraction, similar to a parking ticket.

Occupancy at the Howard Johnson has seen an increase every weekend, Sullivan said. “Every weekend, every one of those rooms is sold.”

Sullivan, who himself does not smoke cigarettes or marijuana, estimates occupancy is up 50 percent since he started renovating the rooms.

Renovations have included opening up each room with sliding doors and installing a patio with a tall fence around it to provide privacy — “a little smoking area for each room right at the door,” Sullivan said. “Otherwise, people have to go outside the lobby doors.

For more: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130929/NEWS/309299981/smokers-tokers-light-up-hotel-owners-occupancy-rates#

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by | September 28, 2013 · 5:56 am

Hospitality Industry Employment Risks: New York Restaurant Settles “Sexual Harassment” Lawsuit For $35,000; Seven Female Workers Subjected To Groping, Explicit Propositions And Lewd Remarks

“…The EEOC’s lawsuit charged that Angelo’s owners subjected seven female employees to sexual harassment from January 2005 through September 2012.  Angelo’s Pizza was purchased by Kefalas in September 2012…in January 2013, Kefalas was added to the lawsuit as a successor EEOCemployer…According to the seven harassment victims, Angelo’s owners, Kostantinos Raptis, Nikolaos Raptis and Andrew Xenos, groped their breasts and buttocks and made sexually explicit propositions and comments, including requests for sexual acts and other lewd remarks…The EEOC further alleged that Kefalas fired two of the women in retaliation for complaining about the sexual harassment…”

Angelo’s Pizza and Grill, Inc. and Kefalas Enterprises, Inc., the former and current owners of Angelo’s Pizza and Grill, a full-service family restaurant located in upstate New York, will pay seven women $35,000.00 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

For example, one of the owners would hold a cucumber or orange traffic cone between his legs and simulate sex.  Another forced a female employee into a back storage room, where he shut the door, turned off the lights, touched her breasts and fondled her.  Angelo’s owners also routinely made comments about oral sex and body parts.

Sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The EEOC filed suit, EEOC v. Angelo’s Pizza & Grill, Inc., and Kefalas Enterprises, Inc., 8:11-cv-01043 (NAM) (RFT), in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in August 2011 after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Although Kostantinos and Nikolaos Raptis and Andrew Xenos, the original owners of Angelo’s Pizza, are no longer involved in the restaurant, both Angelo’s and Kefalas will be bound by a three-year consent decree settling the suit.  The decree, in addition to the $35,000 monetary relief, enjoins Angelo’s, its principals and any future businesses it may purchase or operate and Kefalas from engaging in future sexual harassment or retaliation.   Kefalas must also put mechanisms in place to protect any future employees from sexual harassment and retaliation.  The decree has been approved by Federal District Court Judge Norman A. Mordue.

“These women were subjected to especially crude and unacceptable conduct,” said EEOC New York District Director Kevin Berry.  “The EEOC will not stop aggressively pursuing remedies for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.”

EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Judith Biltekoff added, “The victims in this case have shown great strength in standing up to right the wrongs perpetrated against them by their former employer.  They live and work in a small town in upstate New York where jobs are at a premium.  It took courage to come forward at the risk of losing their jobs.  We are pleased that they will be compensated and that future harassment will be prevented.”

EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  Further information about the commission is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.  The Buffalo Local Office is part of EEOC’s New York District Office which oversees New York, New England and portions of New Jersey.

For more:  http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/9-27-13a.cfm

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by | September 27, 2013 · 5:46 am

Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Florida Hotel Group To Place “Lifeguards And Fences” At Pools During “All Open Hours”; Move Follows Death Of 13-Year Old Boy In March

“…Lifeguards will be on duty at all times while the pools are open…But guests will no longer be permitted to swim in the feature pools after Hotel Pool Drowing Riskshours. Disney plans to install fences around any of those pools that are not already gated, a process that will begin in the coming months as hotels roll through their regular renovation cycles…(the move follows) the death of 13-year-old Anthony Johnson, who was pulled from a pool at Disney’s Pop Century Resort at about 9:30 p.m. on March 10…(he) died two days later at Florida Hospital Celebration…”

Walt Disney World says it will begin stationing lifeguards at its largest hotel pools during all operating hours and then locking them down overnight, six months after a young boy drowned while a pool was unguarded. Disney says its largest and most popular “feature” pools will begin opening at either 7 a.m. or 9 a.m. and closing at 11 p.m.

Only smaller and unguarded “quiet” pools at some hotels will remain accessible at all hours. Disney has about two dozen hotels and time-share resorts across its sprawling property.

“These changes make it easier for guests to understand when our pools are open and when a lifeguard is present,” Disney World spokeswoman Bernadette Davis.

Disney would not say whether a specific event triggered the move. Though that pool was open from 7 a.m. until 11 pm., lifeguards were only on duty from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Disney said it had posted signs warning that guests who chose to swim while the pool was unguarded did so at their own risk.

For more:  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-09-26/business/os-disney-locking-swimming-pools-20130926_1_walt-disney-world-pools-lifeguards

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by | September 26, 2013 · 5:44 am

Hospitality Industry Crime Risks: New Jersey Hotel Employee Arrested For Stealing “Wedding Reception Cash”; Used Freight Elevator To Avoid Surveillance Cameras And Enter Rooms

“…(the former employee), who was hired in May, apparently slipped up through the freight elevator so that he wouldn’t be detected by hotel Hospitality Industry Employee Crimesurveillance cameras and then used a swipe card to get into unoccupied newlywed suites…$770 was taken (in one incident) and for another on Saturday, when a couple said $500 was stolen…”

A since-fired bell hop at the Saddle Brook Marriott was arrested by local police last night and charged with slipping into the rooms of newlyweds at their receptions and snatching some of their wedding-gift cash.

Timothy Henriquez, 30, of Chester, NY, is charged with two counts of theft — for a July incident in which $770 was taken and for another on Saturday, when a couple said $500 was stolen. He was released on a summons pending a Municipal Court hearing, police said.

“Upon learning of his arrest, Marriott terminated his employment,” Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler said.

For more: http://cliffviewpilot.com/saddle-brook-police-charge-hotel-employee-with-thefts-from-newlyweds-rooms/

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