June, 2019 - HospitalityLawyer.com®

Repeat Offenders: Commonly Cited OSHA Standards in the Hospitality Industry & How to Avoid Them

by Aaron Gelb in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Risk Management. Posted June 29, 2019

The law has always been clear that there is no statutory limitation on the length of time that a prior OSHA citation may serve as the basis for a Repeat violation. OSHA historically looked back only three years for past violations, but the Obama Administration extended it to five years. However, the look back period ...

How to Add Value to Your Hotel Asset

by Carrie Russell in Hotel Development, Lodging. Posted June 27, 2019

At the most basic level, the value of a hotel is based on the property’s net income divided by a capitalization rate. As such, one has two possible levers to adjust as a means of increasing a property’s value: either increase the property’s net income or decrease the capitalization rate. The capitalization rate, which is ...

Avoiding a Foodborne Fiasco

by Rimkus Consulting Group in Food & Beverage, Lodging, Risk Management. Posted June 25, 2019

Introduction The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million people or 1 in 6 Americans experience a foodborne illness every year as a result of consuming contaminated food or drink and roughly 128,000 people in the US are hospitalized due to foodborne illness. There are many different pathogens or disease causing microbes ...

Preventing Cybercrime

by William Pfund in Risk Management, Technology. Posted June 22, 2019

HOW TO RESPOND TO COMPUTER POP-UPS. In addition to being annoying, computer pop-ups or notifications are often the first step a cyber-criminal uses to victimize unsuspecting users. Be cautious of any notification or pop-up messages. Examples include emails that say you have to download something in order to see a greeting card or a message ...

Hospitality Case Review: The Top 100+ Hospitality Cases That Impacted Us in 2018

by Karen Morris in Legal. Posted June 20, 2019

Written by Karen Morris, J.D., LL.M. and Diana S. Barber, J.D., CHE, CWP ADA/Standing1. Brito v. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, LLC, 2018 WL 317464 (D. Colo., 01/08/2018). Plaintiff is a paraplegic and requires the use of a wheelchair to ambulate. While at defendant hotel he encountered multiple violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ...

If The Shoe Fits: How Footwear Policy May Lead To Wage And Hour Violations

by Fisher Phillips in Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Legal, Lodging. Posted June 18, 2019

Hotel and restaurant employers commonly require employees to wear uniforms, some as simple as a shirt with company logo, others requiring a more complete look: jacket or blouse and pants or skirt, or dress. Some employers, however, fail to consider the consequences of imposing the cost of the uniform on an employee. Under the federal ...

Severe Weather Business Continuity Planning

by WorldAware in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Risk Management. Posted June 15, 2019

Severe weather is usually associated with thunderstorms but can refer to any dangerous or destructive weather event. Thunderstorms form due to instability in the atmosphere, and generally require a humid air mass, sufficient daytime heating of the air, interactions between frontal systems, and wind shear (change in wind speed or direction with height). Severe Thunderstorm ...

A Discussion of Recent ADA and FMLA Cases and Their Practical Implications

by Robert Bernstein in Human Resources, Legal. Posted June 13, 2019

Agency Updates: In 2018, the Department of Labor released two significant opinion letters demonstrating its interpretation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. In FMLA2018-2- A, the DOL determined that an organ donor is entitled to FMLA leave when the donation involves either inpatient care or continuing treatment. In FMLA2018-1-A, the DOL clarified how employers ...

Best Practices in Trade Practices

by Valerie Haber in Food & Beverage, Legal. Posted June 11, 2019

Introduction After the Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment, a complex web of alcohol beverage laws created a “three-tier system” in which independence must exist between alcohol beverage manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. The ways in which these three tiers can interact is strictly controlled by federal and state laws. Armed with an increased budget ...

No One Likes Surprises – Corporate Counsel Lessons Learned by Clients

by Craig Harris in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Legal. Posted June 8, 2019

I. Introduction I often think of the words first heard spoken by the Fram Oil mechanic in the television commercial many years ago – “you can pay me now or you can pay me later.” The wisdom of this statement has been proven time and time again. Its application in the legal services context is ...

Monthly Archives: June 2019