?In June, Los Angeles passed an ordinance designed to increase safety protections for hotel workers, limit daily workload, and raise hotel worker wages in the city. The new ordinance took effect on Aug. 12.
Under the ordinance, a hotel employer must place on the back of the entrance door to each guest room and restroom facility a hotel sign written in a font size of no less than 18 points that includes the heading “The Law Protects Hotel Workers From Threatening Behavior.”
Moreover, hotel employers must provide written notice of the rights set out in the ordinance to each hotel worker at the time of hire or within 30 days of the effective date of the ordinance.
The City of Los Angeles Office of Wage Standards has posted model notices in both English and Spanish, which can be posted and provided to employees.
The following are links to the model notices required under the law:
Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Notice (English)
Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Notice (Spanish)
Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Notice of Workers’ Rights (English)
Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Notice of Workers’ Rights (Spanish)
New Regulations
The city also published new regulations pertaining to the ordinance that cover the following:
- Determining who is a hotel employer.
- Determining who is a hotel worker.
- Specifying which aspects of the ordinance apply to which hotel employers.
- Security protection for hotel workers.
- Rights related to personal safety devices.
- Measures for fair compensation.
- Exemptions and waivers.
- Enforcement.
- Retaliation.
Hotels must provide a personal security device at no cost to hotel workers who are assigned to work in a guest room or restroom where other hotel workers are not assigned to be present. The regulation describes it as a portable electronic emergency contact device, such as a panic button, that signals the worker’s location and provides direct contact with a hotel security guard or responsible supervisor.
Jack Schaedel is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Los Angeles. © 2022. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.