Tag Archives: Complaints

by | November 20, 2011 · 6:52 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Former Housekeepers File Complaint With EEOC Against California Hotel Claiming They Were Fired After "Complaining About Photos Posted On Bulletin Board"

“…not seeking monetary damages, but that they just want their jobs back with back pay. But, if necessary,..they would file a lawsuit against the hotel…”

The Reyes sisters claim someone posted photos of their faces atop bikini-clad cartoon images on a bulletin board in a hallway in the housekeeping department that is accessible only to employees.

Two former Santa Clara Hyatt Regency workers filed a complaint against the hotel with a federal employment agency Friday claiming that management fired them after they objected to photos of their faces pasted atop bikini-clad cartoon images on a company bulletin board.

The workers, Lorena Reyes, 50, of San Jose, and Martha Reyes, 48, of Milpitas, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency where the sisters worked in the housekeeping department for six years until they were fired in mid-October.

The complaint follows a discord that sparked between the sisters and Hyatt management during “Housekeeping Appreciation Week” in September during which Lorena Reyes, who has worked for the Hyatt for 24 years, and Martha Reyes, who has six years experience at the company, were both being honored.

 For more:  http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/134174328.html

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by | October 26, 2011 · 5:11 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: New Mexico Hotel Operator Sued By Guests Who Were "Spied On" Through Bathroom Wall


“.. family says in a lawsuit that they were spied on while taking showers last year in an Albuquerque hotel…”

“…named as defendants are Wyndham Worldwide Hotels, a parent company of Ramada Inn, which used to operate the motel, as well as Bhakta, Gonzales and another employee, Gibi George, who had access to the maintenance corridor. The complaint says all three of them subsequently left their employment at the hotel…”

Eric and Evangeline Vigil and their two children — a 17-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter — checked into the Ramada Inn, 2015 Menaul Blvd. NW, on April 23, 2010, during a weekend visit to Albuquerque to celebrate the teen’s birthday, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in state District Court.

The complaint says the wife was given a “special rate” for Room 135 when she and the children checked in. The hotel staff were unaware that they were later joined by her husband, the lawsuit says.

While taking separate showers the next morning, each family member heard noises coming from behind the wall of the shower stall. When the father examined the area around the fixtures, the complaint says, he noticed a hole under the faucet.

“As Eric Vigil looked into the hole under the faucet, he saw an eye staring at him from behind the wall,” it says. “Eric Vigil immediately hit the tub surround and shouted. He heard someone attempt to leave the area from behind the wall.”

The complaint says when Vigil went into the hallway, he noticed a maintenance door next to his room door.

According to the complaint, the general manager, Sanketkunar Bhakta, told Vigil “the maintenance guy” had been fixing pipe behind the door, but after Vigil called police, Sanketkunar told the officers that he and another employee, Sergio Gonzales, were fixing a sewer line. Subsequently, Bhakta changed his story and claimed that he and Gonzales were fixing television cables in the corridor, the complaint says.

An inspection of the maintenance corridor found insulation had been removed from the wall behind the shower stall “to afford a clear line of sight into the shower stall” and that a plastic bucket was placed there to provide a place to sit while spying through the peephole, the complaint says.

For more:  http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Suit–Family-spied-on-via-peephole-in-hotel-shower

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by | October 8, 2011 · 6:12 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Safety Risks: Complaints Filed With OSHA And EEOC Against Colorado Hotel For Firing Housekeeper After She "Complaied About Unsanitary Conditions"

“…A Denver woman says she was fired by Springhill Suites DIA because she complained about the unsanitary conditions at the hotel.“When I asked management to provide housekeepers on my cleaning crew with plastic gloves, I was told the gloves were too expensive,” said Dorothy Barrett-Wilson. “We were cleaning bathroom toilets and floors without gloves, something you don’t even do at home.”

The EEOC will investigate the charges of discrimination filed by Wilson, who says the hotel fired her when she made the complaint to OSHA.

Barrett-Wilson filed complaints with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and OSHA. The complaints also say the crew, which was mainly Hispanic and African, had no radio communication in case of emergencies on the floors.

Wilson also says the housekeepers were also being asked to clean 21 rooms a shift, when the norm is about 12 or 14. She also says workers had to handle dirty towels and linen, some of which had blood on them, with their bare hands.

For more:  http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-feds-investigate-springhill-suites-dia-20111007,0,893504.story

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by | April 15, 2011 · 10:13 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Satisfaction: "Hotel Room Cleanliness And Maintenance" Are #1 Guest-Reported Complaints And Problems

“…the most consistently reported problems from hotel guests across the country involve room cleanliness and maintenance, according to experts at Hospitality Staffing Solutions.”

“…Properties benefit when they can maintain a static number of permanent employees with relative job security while meeting the ever-changing demand that is inherent to the travel and tourism industry with help from staffing companies like HSS, which is equipped to meet the needs of most properties within 24 hours.”

A property can offer hundreds of amenities including a first-class spa, top-rated restaurants and an immaculate 18-hole golf course, but if a guest checks in and finds their room dirty, that guest may leave and never come back – and you can bet they’ll tell their friends (and probably Tweet) about it, too!
 
At HSS, housekeeping specialists undergo a selective recruiting process, which includes background checks, reference interviews and extensive training sessions. As a result, they are consistently listed at the top of posted room inspection scores. 

“Room attendants are the primary ambassadors of any guest-centric facility, so we are very picky,” said Holliday. “The key to ensuring high levels of excellence among back-of-house employees is to selectively recruit the best talent and motivate them by offering advancement opportunities tied to performance. This formula has worked very well for us.”
 
“Hotels often need to staff entire departments in a very short amount of time,” he said. ”

For more:  http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=20370

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by | November 19, 2010 · 1:05 pm

Hotel Industry Legal Issues: Dept. Of Justice (DOJ), In Settlement Of A Complaint Against Hilton Hotels Over The “Americans With Disabilities Act” (ADA), Now Mandates That Hotel Owners Provide Required Number And Categories Of Accessible Rooms And Ability To Reserve Those Rooms Online

“…the settlement represents the first time the Department of Justice has required a franchisor to require all franchised or managed hotels that enter into a new franchise or management agreement, experience a change in ownership, or renew or extend a franchise agreement, to conduct a survey of its facilities and to certify that the hotel complies with the ADA…”

“..It is also the first time that an agreement under the ADA has specifically detailed how a hotel reservations system should be made accessible. The agreement also represents the first time that a hotel chain has been required to make its online reservations system accessible and to provide on its website current data about accessible features in guest rooms throughout the chain…”

Allegations in the department’s complaint include:

  • Failure to provide the required number of accessible rooms
  • Failure to disperse accessible rooms among the various categories of available accommodations
  • Failure to provide individuals with disabilities the ability to reserve accessible rooms through Hilton’s central reservations system on-line or by telephone
  • Failure to provide individuals with disabilities with the accessible sleeping accommodations that they reserved.

For more on the Justice Dept. Complaint and Findings:  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-crt-1268.html

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by | April 6, 2010 · 10:12 am

Hotel Industry Sexual Harassment: Smaller Hotel Operators Have Minimal “Workplace Hostility” Procedures In Place And Managers Are Often “Friends” Of Senior Management

The situation was difficult to report internally, as the hotel had no clear-cut method of filing such a form of workplace hostility, according to Tsamis. Calls by Windy City Times to the human resources department at the hotel were not returned.

The matter grew more complicated because the manager is friends with the son of the general manager and the human resources manager, according to Kosman.

“Because there was not a policy of reporting in place, I wrote a letter to Bricton Group,” Tsamis said.

(From a WindyCityMediaGroup.com article)   When Hernan Cortes began working for Holiday Inn in 2006, he was pleased with the job.

“It was an excellent work environment,” said Cortes.

Things changed radically in August 2009, when, according to Cortes, his new male supervising manager began sexually harassing him and, ironically, discriminating against him due to his sexual orientation.

Sexual harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation, two forms of workplace hostility, have intersected in a case involving employees of a Holiday Inn franchise in Elmhurst, Ill. The hotel is run by The Bricton Group, which is based in Park Ridge, Ill.

Two employees of the hotel have sought legal advice due to the alleged incidents.

Dan Kosman, the second employee seeking legal assistance, began working for the hotel in June 2009. Around August, his supervising manager—the same manager who also supervised over Cortes—allegedly began sexual harassing him as well.

“I’d walk by and he’d pinch my butt,” Kosman said. “I’d be by the filing cabinet, bending over, and he’d come over and bump me purposely.

Kosman added that the manager also committed more lewd actions, such as exposing his penis to him. Cortes reportedly faced similar harassment.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation also came into play, when other employees were present, said Kosman and Cortes.

“He called me ‘F squared,’ which mean ‘f’ing faggot,'” Cortes said.

“As the harassment went on, he was obviously a closeted gay,” Kosman said. “When there were other people around, he was definitely throwing [ homophobic words ] around to whomever he was talking to. I would be somewhere on the sidelines … and he’d say, ‘Oh, that guy’s a fag.'”

Kosman sought the advice of Lambda Legal, an organization that offers legal assistance to the LGBT community, in December. Lambda referred Kosman to his current lawyer, Betty Tsamis.

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=25872

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