Labor and Employment - HospitalityLawyer.com®

Radical Candor in the Workplace: How “Being Nice” To Employees May Place You In Legal Jeopardy

by Fisher Phillips in Human Resources, Legal. Posted November 11, 2017

Is honesty really the best policy at the workplace? Some employers believe that a few little white lies might help them avoid uncomfortable situations and confrontations. It’s common for some to spare an employee’s feelings during performance reviews for fear of upsetting the employee or being accused of treating them differently from others. Many employers ...

How Text Messaging Will Give You an Edge in Hotel Customer Satisfaction

by Ken Rhie in Hotel Development, Technology. Posted September 14, 2017

When you want to improve your hotel guest’s experience, it’s crucial to build up the ways in which you communicate with your guests. While emails and phone calls are useful, text messaging for hotels is an efficient and direct way to ensure that your customers are satisfied. Texting gives you instant access to your guests, ...

Inconsistent Performance Standards Dooms Defense Case

by Sid Steinberg in Human Resources, Legal. Posted August 19, 2017

Over the years, a consistent theme of this column has been that employers need to hold all employees, regardless of protected characteristic, to the same standard in order to avoid even the appearance of discrimination. These are generally “employment words to live by.” Realistically, however, managers often hold more senior employees to a higher standard ...

Workplace Harassment 101

by Daniel Deacon in Human Resources, Legal. Posted July 27, 2017

One lesson companies of all sizes can learn from the sexual harassment claims that Uber is facing is that an employer needs to set clear restrictions on harassment and make a conscious effort to hold employees accountable to those workplace standards. In particular, sexual harassment has been a significant issue in the workplace since men ...

A New Trend — States Banning Questions Regarding Salary

by Jordan Schwartz in Human Resources, Legal. Posted May 24, 2017

In light of the current political climate and the corresponding lack of legislation being enacted at the federal level, some of the more liberal states and localities have begun to take matters into their own hands and enact their own legislation. One trend that is starting to gain significant momentum is in the field of ...

How ‘Ban-the-Box’ Ordinances Complicate Hiring at Hotels

by Elliott Mest in Human Resources, Legal. Posted March 8, 2017

Beginning Jan. 22, Los Angeles enacted the Fair Chance Ordinance, a so-called “ban-the-box” law that prevents employers from investigating the criminal histories of potential employees before submitting a conditional offer of employment. The goal of the law is to evaluate potential employees without acknowledging criminal history, but it also complicates the employment process. Michelle Sumner, ...

Employers Required to Use New Form I-9

by Andrea Kirshenbaum in Human Resources, Legal. Posted January 30, 2017

As of January 22, 2017, employers are required to use the new Form I-9 issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A link to the new form can be found here. Employers who fail to use the updated form can be subject to fines and penalties, which nearly doubled in 2016 (the minimum ...

Supreme Court Agrees To Wade Into Class Action Waiver Conflict

by Fisher Phillips in Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Legal, Lodging. Posted January 20, 2017

In a widely expected move, the U.S. Supreme Court just agreed to settle a dispute about whether employers can use mandatory class action waivers with their workers. The decision, which should be issued by June 2017, will provide clarity to a topic that has become increasingly muddled over the past year. Employers will spend the ...

Medical Marijuana and the Workplace

by Heidi Quan in Human Resources, Legal. Posted November 7, 2016

Dazed and Confused: How Upcoming Ballot Measures and Cases of Interest Continue to Change the Legal Landscape around Marijuana California’s Compassionate Use Act (CUA) of 1996 decriminalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, it did not legalize marijuana. It only shields medical users and caregivers from criminal liability. Recently, Governor Brown signed into ...

New IRS Safe Harbors for Publicly-Financed Properties Help Hotel Industry

by Thomson Reuters in Hotel Development, Lodging. Posted November 2, 2016

The IRS recently issued new guidance on safe harbor provisions in management contracts for publicly-owned, bond-financed properties. These safe harbor provisions affect a variety of real estate assets including hotels and other privately managed public properties. On August 22, 2016, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2016-44, which provides new guidance on safe harbor provisions for management ...

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