Tag Archives: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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 | November 13, 2011 · 8:49 am

Hospitality Inudustry Employement Risks: California Hotel Chain Settles Discrimination Lawsuit With U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Over Firing Employee With Autism

“…The EEOC’s suit accused the companies of failing to make a reasonable accommodation for the clerk’s disability, discrimination and wrongful termination...”

According to the terms of the settlement, the former clerk will receive $125,000, while San Diego-based Partnership with Industry—the non-profit employment support organization that sent the job coach—will receive $7,500.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has settled its discrimination lawsuit against a California-based hotel chain for allegedly firing a front desk clerk with autism, the agency announced on Monday.

The hotel chain, Comfort Suites and its parent company, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Tarsadia Hotels, have agreed to pay $132,500 and make several changes to its employment practices and operations, the EEOC said in a statement.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court in September 2010, supervisors at the Comfort Suites Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego denied a former front desk clerk diagnosed with autism access to a job coach that “would have helped the clerk learn to master his job by using autism-specific training techniques,” as well as made repeated disparaging remarks about his condition.

After refusing on several occasions to allow the job coach into the hotel, the supervisors allegedly accused the clerk of mishandling a hotel guest’s packages and fired him.

For more:  http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20111108/NEWS05/111109871?tags=%7C338%7C309%7C75%7C305%7C339%7C303

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by | October 5, 2011 · 12:36 pm

Hospitality Industry Employment Liability Risks: "Employment Practices Liability Insurance" Does Not Cover Lawsuit Brought By EEOC According To A Federal Court; Insurance "Claims" Limited To Suits Brought By "Employees"

“…A federal court in Tennessee recently ruled that an employer’s employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) did not cover a $2.7 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by the EEOC… because the policy limited “claims” to proceedings brought by employees, and the EEOC was not Cracker Barrel’s employee…”

 The specific language in the policy defined a “claim” as “a civil, administrative or arbitration proceeding commenced by the service of a complaint or charge, which is brought by any past, present or prospective ‘employee(s)’ of the ‘insured entity’ against any ‘insured.’”

After 10 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store employees filed charges of race and/or sex discrimination with the EEOC, the EEOC sued Cracker Barrel under Title VII. Cracker Barrel eventually settled the underlying EEOC lawsuit, entering into a consent decree obligating it to place $2 million into a settlement fund. In addition, Cracker Barrel incurred more than $700,000 in defense costs.    

Although Cracker Barrel gave proper written notice of the EEOC lawsuit to its carrier, the Court ruled that Cracker Barrel was not entitled to recover any of the $2.7 million under its EPLI policy. The Court held that the language in the EPLI policy did not extend to the EEOC lawsuit because the policy limited “claims” to proceedings brought by employees, and the EEOC was not Cracker Barrel’s employee.

For more:  http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=21384c3f-95d2-424d-a68c-ecd547ebe694

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by | October 4, 2011 · 5:44 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Colorado Hotel Owners Sued By U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) For Firing White Workers In Favor Of Hispanic Workers

“…one of the fired employees was told she was being terminated because the hotel owners preferred non-American and non-Caucasian workers ‘because it was their impression that such workers are lazy’..”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking back pay for employees that federal officials said were fired from a Hampton Inn franchise in Craig, Colo., according to the lawsuit filed last week.

Former employees at a western Colorado hotel said they were fired and replaced with Latino workers because the business owners thought white and non-Hispanic workers were lazy, according to a federal lawsuit announced Monday.

The lawsuit claims the general manager of the hotel was told by the business owners “to hire more qualified maids, and that they preferred maids to be Hispanic because in their opinion Hispanics worked harder.”

For more:  http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9Q51LLO1.htm

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by | October 2, 2010 · 11:18 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Filed A Federal Lawsuit Against Hotel Owners Alleging “Pattern Of Racial Discrimination” In Hiring Hispanics Over Black Applicants

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the owners of an Eastside hotel claims black housekeeping employees were fired after they complained that Hispanic workers were paid more for doing the same work.

The suit, which alleges a pattern of racial discrimination against the hotel’s housekeeping staff and job applicants, also said the black workers were openly told they’d be fired and replaced because Hispanics cleaned better and complained less.

The EEOC filed the suit claiming racial discrimination on behalf of five fired employees of the Hampton Inn, 2311 N. Shadeland Ave., plus a group of black applicants who sought jobs at the hotel.

The EEOC suit also claims the hotel management destroyed employment records sought by the agency going back nearly two years. Incidents in the suit allegedly occurred from September 2008 to June 2009.

The suit seeks back pay and reinstatement for the fired employees, and it seeks unspecified compensation for other blacks denied employment on the basis of their race.

Hotel owners New Indianapolis Hotels LLC and Hement Thacker of Georgia could not be reached for comment. Attorneys in Indianapolis and Georgia, who formerly represented the hotel owner, declined comment.

Though employment records have been destroyed, the EEOC estimated about 30 to 35 applicants sought work at the hotel and may have been denied work based on their race.

For more:  http://www.indystar.com/article/20101001/LOCAL1803/10010388/1003/BUSINESS/EEOC-s-bias-suit-targets-hotel-on-Eastside

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