3.3 Million Reasons to Hire Back Pre-Pandemic Hospitality Employees 

Some businesses are rebuilding after their Covid-19 contraction. Labor Code 2810.8  requires those in certain industries – hotels or private clubs with 50 or more rooms, event centers, airport hospitality operations and service providers, and companies providing building services, including security, to office, retail, or other commercial buildings –  to offer available positions to qualified former, laid-off workers.  See Comeback Trail: Hotels, Security Services and Others Must Offer Openings to Pandemic-Affected Former Staff(April 30, 2021).

The Labor Commissioner has cited the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes (Terranea) $3.3 million because, upon reopening, it failed to offer newly-available positions to 53 former housekeepers, servers, bartenders, junior sous chefs, and massage therapists laid off because of the pandemic.

The assessment includes $5,300 in civil penalties, $208,582 in interest, and a healthy $3,080,000 in liquidated damages, totaling $3,293,882.  The liquidated damages calculation was $500 per day per worker for the duration of the violations, averaging 116 days per person.  The Labor Commissioner issued a companion notice to discontinue labor violations, requiring Terranea to offer positions to those former employees who have not received that chance to return.

Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower stated: “These workers invested years of service at Terranea and through no fault of their own lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The law makes it clear that workers in the hospitality and services industries must be prioritized to return to the same or similar positions when their former employer reopens for business.”

TAKE AWAYS:

• Review our April 30, 2021 blog “Hotels, Security Services and Others Must Offer Openings to Pandemic-Affected Former Staff”
• If you are in one of the covered industries and have newly-available jobs, follow Labor Code 2810.8’s requirements for notifying and  rehiring laid-off employees before hiring others.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Cautionary Tale Episode 47 – COVID-19 Required Benefits Take Two –  El Super Grocery Store Citations Tripled (October 29, 2021)
• Cautionary Tale Episode 43 – COVID Sick Leave Not Optional – Grocery Store Chain Fined Heavily For Violations (August 20, 2021)
• Workplace Discrimination in a Pandemic – California’s Updated COVID-19 FAQs Call for Careful Decision Making (August 5, 2020)

Helena Kobrin
March 11, 2022