Hospitality Law Conference
Presented by Anderson Kill and Petra Risk Solutions: Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at The Cornell Club in New York
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1RdDoqn
Tag Archives: New York
Hospitality Industry Conference Update: “Hospitality Law Conference”
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Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Kari’s Law Pushed After Murder, Failed 911 Call”
“Kari’s Law has received support from nearly 500,000 online signatures and would require that all who dial the three digits 911 would be connected to an emergency dispatcher regardless of the multi-line telephone system (MTLS).
Right now, dialing 911 at an office building, school, or hotel MLTS may or may not get the caller they help they are seeking. As Hunt travels the country to speak about Kari’s Law, he takes notice in each hotel room where he stays.”
One of the most well-known and obvious lessons taught to children and remembered through adulthood makes Hank Hunt feel angry, yet guilty.
“We all teach our children to dial 911,†said Hunt about the three digits ingrained in everyone’s head in case of an emergency. But it took tragedy for Hunt to realize those three digits do not always work.
In December of 2013, Hunt’s daughter Kari Dunn was stabbed to death inside a Marshall, Texas hotel room. Her estranged husband is now charged with her murder. Dunn’s 9-year-old daughter was inside the hotel room and dialed 911 four times.
Each time, the call failed.
For more: http://bit.ly/1plHxXt
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Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Technology
Hospitality Industry Technology Update: “The Hotel Booking App That Will Change Everything!”
“Also, unlike most apps, Roomlia has no ties to a user’s credit card information. It passes the credit card data on to the hotel securely,
which means that the user can handle booking changes directly with his or her hotel of choice, making it much easier on the traveler and the hotel.”
I am an avid hotel-booking-app user. I regularly toggle between Hotel Tonight, Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz to hunt for rooms and deals when I travel. Sometimes I use them even when I don’t have travel plans as a way to decide where I want to go. I’m cheap!
I like to search Gogobot to browse by destination. I think Hipmunk offers a stellar user experience. I am not altogether unhappy with the app landscape right now, so I’m not necessarily in the market for a new hotel booking app, but I am always willing to try something new.
For more:Â http://yhoo.it/1qKUGuJ
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Filed under Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Technology
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “As Marijuana Becomes Legal in More States, How Should Employers Handle Positive Drug Tests?”
“…Hospitality employers also need to be aware of potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) associated with medical marijuana. Employers with facilities in states that allow medical marijuana use may need to provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA for employees with a valid doctor’s authorization. 
For instance, the New York statute permitting medical marijuana use automatically classifies every individual who is considered a Certified Patient as disabled. Therefore, New York employers must engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine whether they need to provide the employee with a reasonable accommodation…”
Due to the ever changing laws surrounding the legality of marijuana, many of our hospitality clients have recently asked us whether it is lawful to terminate an employee who has tested positive for marijuana. The answer varies greatly depending on the state in which you are located.
States continue to pass legislation legalizing marijuana use for specific purposes. On July 5, 2014, New York became the twenty-first state along with the District of Columbia to legalize marijuana use for certain medical conditions—joining Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Two other states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized recreational marijuana use for individuals who are 21 years old or older, and Alaska and Oregon currently have similar legislation pending.
For more: http://bit.ly/1Bek1W8
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Filed under Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Amid Backlash, Hotel Rescinds $500 Fines For “Negative†Online Reviews”
“…San Francisco Magazine ran a long-form piece last week on the complex relationship between businesses and Yelp,
with San Francisco chef Jeff Mason summarizing the Yelp game like this: ‘You’re in it whether you want to be or not, and that’s what’s so frustrating.’ Even a minuscule number of negative reviews can have a disproportionately large detrimental effect on a business’s margins…”
Apparently recognizing that restaurants and hotels can live and die by their online ratings, the Union Street Guest House in Hudson, NY included a table-turning clause in their reservation policies: if you book an event at the hotel and a member of your party posts a negative review, the hotel will fine you $500.
For more: http://bit.ly/1kDwLkk
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Social Media, Technology
Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Woman Suing Syracuse Hotel for $1 million After Falling Off Bar Stool, Injuring Wrist”
“…The lawsuit alleges that the bar stool was too high off the ground, built to ‘coordinate with the height of the bar top.’Â 
The hotel management knew of other problems with the height of the stools, the lawsuit claims…”
An Ohio woman is suing Syracuse’s Crowne Plaza Hotel after falling off a bar stool in the public lounge.
Antoinette Allison, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, is seeking up to $1 million for her injuries after falling off the “defective” bar stool on April 14, 2011, according to her lawsuit.
The wooden, high-back bar stool landed on her wrist after the fall, which caused multiple fractures, her lawsuit claims. The injury required surgery.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/QFlDFo
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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Injuries, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Legal Risk: “Caring For Dying Wife Cost Chef at Tony Hotel His Job, Lawsuit Alleges”
“…Esselborn maintains he was entitled to take the time off to care for his ailing wife. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for immediate family members with a serious health condition
….A message left Tuesday for the hotel’s general manager was not immediately returned. The suit, filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified monetary damages…”
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Annadale resident Robert Esselborn and his family endured a staggering blow on Christmas Eve when his wife, Barbara, a popular school teacher, died nine days after suddenly taking ill. She was just 38.
The day before, Esselborn had been jolted on another front.
He was fired by reality-show-winning chef Anthony Paris from his night cook job at Manhattan’s chic Crosby Street Hotel for taking time off to care for his dying spouse, Esselborn alleges in a lawsuit.
For more:Â http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2014/04/caring_for_dying_wife_cost_che.html
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Filed under Claims, Employee Benefits, Hotel Industry, Hotel Restaurant, Management And Ownership
Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Plaza Hotel Using Noise as Legal Reason to Remove Bike-Share Rake”
“…Steven Sladkus, attorney for the luxury hotel and condos, told The Post when he first filed the case last fall, 
 “The public should enjoy unobstructed or unblemished landmarks. This isn’t just for the ‘wealthy’ in The Plaza. This is for the benefit of everyone. Don’t mar it.†He declined to comment on the city’s response…”
A city attorney blasted The Plaza hotel for using “red herrings†such as traffic, noise and historical import in its legal quest to remove a bulky bike-share rack near its entrance.
“It is clear that this proceeding is motivated instead purely by The Plaza hotel’s aesthetic concerns,†Nicholas Ciappetta, a lawyer for the city, said in a Jan. 28 court filing revealed Tuesday. “In other words, The Plaza hotel does not want the station anywhere in its vicinity,†Ciappetta added, asking a judge to toss the “meritless†case.
Ciappetta called the high-priced hotel “self-serving†for trying to oust one of the city’s most popular kiosks.
For more:Â http://nypost.com/2014/02/05/plaza-hotel-using-noise-as-legal-reason-to-remove-bike-share-rake/
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Filed under Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Privacy
Food Industry Risks: New York Tortilla Factory Ordered To Shut Down After Employees' Death And Discovery That Owners Did Not Carry Workers' Compensation Insurance
The state Workers Compensation Board issued a stop-work order at the Williamsburg facility after learning the factory’s owner, Erasmo Ponce, was not offering workers’ compensation insurance to his employees.
A Brooklyn tortilla factory where a man was crushed when he fell into a dough mixer has been temporarily shuttered, state officials said Friday. Tortilleria Chinantla was not closed because of Juan Baten’s gruesome death, but his loss of life did lead investigators to the facility, officials said.
“The owner would need to get the insurance and pay fines before he is permitted to reopen,” said agency spokesman Brian Keegan.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the state Department of Labor are investigating the deadly accident. Baten, 22, reached into the mixer early Monday and was sucked inside after his hand was snagged by one of its blades. The young father was killed instantly when a turbine broke his neck.
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