Food & Beverage - HospitalityLawyer.com®

Employer-Mandated Tip Pooling Guidelines

by Wilson Elser in Food & Beverage, Legal. Posted May 31, 2018

Tips and their distribution among the staff have plagued the hospitality industry for years. Federal courts interpret the federal law differently and states have enacted their own statutes that place employers in constant uncertainty, depending on where they are located. Also, tip pooling arrangements have been a regular part of many restaurant operations and are ...

Beware of the ICE: Hospitality and Retail Industries Need to Prioritize Immigration Compliance

by Charles Spitz in Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Legal, Lodging, Risk Management. Posted May 19, 2018

From the beginning of his Presidency, immigration compliance has been a top priority for President Trump. This has included the removal from the U.S. of individuals that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terms “higher priority.” While ICE’s enforcement efforts have included a variety of methods and venues, an expansion into worksite enforcement has also ...

Avoiding The Blame Game: How To Limit Your Liability To Other Companies’ Employees

by Edward Harold in Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Insurance & Loss Prevention, Legal, Risk Management. Posted January 16, 2018

Numerous individuals who work in retail stores are actually employed by a company other than the retailer itself. These include vendor employees stocking product, sampling employees who offer customers tasty treats, inventory company employees, cleaning crews, security guards, and delivery personnel. Whether you could be liable as a retailer for the conduct of one of ...

Surf’s Up! Don’t Become The Next Victim Of A Surfing Suit

by Michelle Anderson in Food & Beverage, Hotel Development, Insurance & Loss Prevention, Legal, Technology. Posted December 30, 2017

The past few years have seen a steep increase in litigation brought against hospitality businesses under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These suits often contend that certain aspects of a building, bathroom, or parking lot do not comply with the ADA’s detailed standards and regulations. With the goal of creating a ...

Security in Bars, Taverns, and Nightclubs

by Donald Decker in Food & Beverage, Risk Management, Safety & Security. Posted December 5, 2017

In many parts of countries around the world, the neighborhood bar provides a location for friends to gather. Taverns and restaurants offer patrons a place to drink and dine. Nightclubs offer a high energy atmosphere that combines dancing and the consumption of alcohol. Hotels, motels, and entertainment complexes often contain bars, taverns, restaurants and nightclubs. ...

Defending Trade Secrets In The Gig Economy

by Corey Goerdt in Food & Beverage, Hotel Development, Legal, Risk Management, Safety & Security. Posted November 25, 2017

Waking up to news of another major data breach seems to have become a daily routine. On the front pages and cable news, we hear about hackers, rogue governments, and shadowy figures involved with these data breaches. But too often we overlook the fact that most data breaches are not the stuff of Tom Clancy ...

Businesses Should Prepare For Predictive Scheduling Laws

by Jordan Schwartz in Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Legal. Posted September 5, 2017

Last month, Victoria’s Secret agreed to pay $12 million to settle a class action lawsuit in California brought by hourly employees that were denied pay as a result of the store’s use of on-call shift scheduling. In that lawsuit, the employees relied on a California law requiring employees, who report for work on a scheduled ...

Where ‘Natural’ Takes on A Whole New Meaning

by Anderson Kill in Food & Beverage, Legal. Posted August 24, 2017

The term “natural” in the food and beverage industry has long been an effective selling point as U.S. consumers look to live healthier lifestyles. An issue, however, arises when the term is deployed to entice consumers, regardless of whether the product is in fact “natural” as an average person would understand the term. On that ...

Mislabeled Food Products Risk Allergic Reaction

by Jennifer Arledge in Food & Beverage. Posted August 22, 2017

About 80 percent of all food products are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat, poultry and egg products. Both agencies have regulations governing food production, labeling and recalls. Rarely does a week go by without reports of a food recall. The number of annual recalls ...

Franchisors: Protecting Trade Secrets Under Texas Law

by S.L. Owens in Food & Beverage, Insurance & Loss Prevention, Legal. Posted May 18, 2017

Franchisors frequently face this common scenario: upon termination or expiration of a franchise agreement, the franchisee leaves the system with the franchisor’s confidential information and trade secrets and – worse – attempts to use that information in a competing business. Confidential information – including secret recipes, proprietary processes and customer lists – is the lifeline ...

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