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Council to Conduct Final Reading of Ordinance Protecting Hotel Workers

Published on Monday, July 27, 2020 | 3:00 am
 

The City Council is scheduled Monday to conduct the second reading of an ordinance designed to protect hotel workers laid off during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“This ordinance establishes recall provisions for certain hotel workers who have been laid off and when there is a change of ownership or control resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a city staff report. “The ordinance applies to hotels and public lodging facilities that have 50 or more guest rooms or had more than $5 million in gross receipts in 2019.”

The ordinance includes, among other points, a right-to-recall element for displaced workers, and a worker-retention clause, the latter to protect affected employees in the event of a change in control of a hotel’s management.

Under the right-of-recall clauses of the L.A. County and L.A. City ordinances, “Priorities must be given to laid-off workers, who have five business days to accept or deny an offer of employment,’’ according to a city staff report.

Under the worker retention/right of retention elements of those other ordinances, “Upon a ‘change in control,’ incumbent business employers must post a notice and provide a preferential hiring list of workers to new owner.’’

Several communities have passed similar ordinances designed to protect workers.

However, those other ordinances, however, are wider in scope than the one the Pasadena City Council is now poised to consider. Pasadena’s would cover only hotel workers, while the other ordinances include workers at airports, commercial properties and events centers.

According to a July 9 article in the Guardian, hotel workers in Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix and Baltimore have told former employees they could reapply for their jobs and, if hired, start out as new employees.

The ordinance is opposed by the hotel industry and the local Chamber of Commerce.

“The hospital industry is not struggling, it is withering,” wrote Paul Little, chamber president. “Right now three hotels are closed. Others are operating at 20% capacity. This is not sustainable for the hotels.”

According to a city staff report in July, The Langham, Sheraton, and Hotel Constance remain closed while others transitioned from having 85 percent occupancy in February to less than 10 percent in March and April with a dramatically reduced nightly rate.

“it is important to protect workers from losing their jobs for example to agency hires,” wrote Mark Maier to the City Council. “The complaint by 21 workers at the Langham-Huntington alone shows that a large number of Pasadena workers are in potential jeopardy.”

Staff will provide the City Council with a report as to the efficacy of the ordinance within 11 months of the lifting of the City Manager’s declaration of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ordinance will sunset 12 months after the expiration of the City Manager’s declaration of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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