The Los Angeles City Council recently passed a law requiring hotel employers to comply with new wage and hour and safety requirements. The new law, called the Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance ("HWPO"), codified at section 182 of Article 2 of Chapter 28 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, is effective as of August 12 and implements significant changes that will require hotel employers, or “any person who owns, controls or operates a hotel in the City,” and their contractors to comply with the ordinance’s requirements.
Chief among these changes is an increase to the minimum wage from $18.86 per hour, up from $17.64. Notably, this increase is significant because the prior effective minimum wage only applied to hotels with 150 or more guest rooms, but now, the increased minimum wage applies to hotels with only 60 or more guest rooms.
The HWPO also limits the amount of square footage a hotel worker/room attendant can work in a day to prevent minimum wage violations. Hotels with 45-60 guest rooms can require its workers to clean no more than 4,000 square feet in day, and hotels with 60 or more guest rooms are limited to 3,500 square feet in a day. The square footage determination also depends on various factors, including whether the square footage is in one or more buildings, whether the square footage is located on two or more floors, among other factors. If these factors apply, these square foot limitations are reduced by 500 square feet. In the event an employee exceeds the square footage limits, the worker is entitled to wage premium of twice the employee’s regular rate of pay. Hotel employers must also state the actual square footage of each room in any written assignment it provides room attendants.
The HWPO precludes an employee from working more than 10 hours in a workday unless the employee consents in writing to do so. Critically, consent is only valid if the hotel employer provided the worker written advance notice that they may be able to decline working more than 10 hours in a workday and that they will not be subject to an adverse employment action for declining overtime work.
The HWPO also requires hotel employers to maintain records and any other documentation for a period of at least three (3) years.
The records to be maintained include:
1. Room Attendant’s name
2. Rate of pay
3. Pay received
4. Identification of rooms cleaned
5. Actual square footage of each room cleaned
6. Number of special-attention rooms, number of additional hotel buildings, number of additional bed rooms, and total square footage cleaned for each workday
7. Overtime hours worked for each workday
8. Any written consent provided pursuant to work overtime in excess of 10 hours
9. Records of completion of training by managers or supervisors regarding the safety requirements of the HWPO.
Hotel employers must also provide notice of worker rights under the HWPO in each language that at least 10% of its workers speak within 30 days from August 12, 2022.
Safety Requirements
The HWPO requires hotel employers to provide a Personal Safety Device, or “a portable electronic contact device,” such as a panic button but not a whistle, alarm bell or similar device. These devices are to be made available to workers who work in a guest room or restroom facility alone. Hotels with 60 or more guest rooms shall also have a designated security guard to provide immediate on-scene assistance if a worker’s Personal Safety Device is activated. Hotels with fewer than 60 guest rooms can have a hotel manager or supervisor respond to an activated Personal Safety Device if a security guard is unavailable, or can have a designated manager or supervisor respond if they receive three (3) hours of training regarding the HWPO, receive instruction on the proper functions and maintenance of the hotel’s Personal Safety Device, and protocols for responding to a Personal Safety Device are in place.
Additional requirements include a hotel worker’s bill of rights advising workers of their rights to take paid time off to report violent or threatening conduct to law enforcement or a counselor or advisor of the reporting worker’s choice, and the prohibition of any adverse employment action against a worker for NOT reporting a violent or threatening conduct. The HWPO also prohibits retaliation of any worker for exercising his/her rights under the ordinance.
Finally, employers must reasonably accommodate hotel workers who have been subjected to violent or threatening conduct, including by offering modified work schedules and re-assignment to a vacant position.
The HWPO not only implements measures to protect against worker safety, but implements measures to ensure healthy and clean lodging. To that end, the HWPO requires daily sanitization and cleaning of guest rooms and does not permit guests to opt-out voluntarily from the daily sanitization and cleaning requirement.
The HWPO also permits hotel employers with 45 or fewer guest rooms to apply for a waiver from some of the ordinance’s provisions where it would cause the hotel employer to file bankruptcy or reduce its workforce by more than 20% or curtail worker hours by more than 30%. Similarly, the HWPO has a limited exception from some of the ordinance’s provisions where the hotel employer implements a collective bargaining agreement expressly waiving certain provisions of the HWPO in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
Takeaways
The compliance of the HWPO’s various requirements are complex and are likely to spur significant litigation. If not handled correctly, these new restrictions could invite an increase in wage and hour and wrongful termination claims. We suggest approaching these new changes immediately and diligently to avoid an increase in potential exposure. Please call on the Gordon & Rees Employment Law group to walk you through next steps.