Court Rules In Favor Of Hotel Worker Protection

The ordinance limits room attendants who clean guest rooms from cleaning more than a specified square footage of floor space during their scheduled shift. At hotels with fewer than 40 rooms, room attendants may not be required to clean more than 4000 square feet in an eight-hour workday. At hotels with 40 or more rooms, room attendants may not clean more than 3500 square feet in an eight-hour workday. If a room attendant is required to exceed these limits, the hotel employer must compensate the room attendant at twice the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in that workday.

Plaintiffs Columbia Sussex Management, LLC, and CW Hotel Limited Partnership sued the city of Santa Monica on the basis of finding the Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance unconstitutional, invalid, and preempted. The U.S. District Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion to seek preliminary injunction to prevent the workload provisions of the ordinance from going into effect on January 1. Judge Otis Wright’s order denied the request for preliminary injunction and found that the plaintiffs did not show a likelihood of success on any of their claims made under the National Labor Relations Act, the dormant commerce clause, and the California Occupational Safety & Health Act.

The Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance does the following:

1. Provides hotel housekeepers with safety protections to prevent against sexual violence or other threatening behavior.
2. Requires training on personal rights and safety, and education to protect public health and prevent instances of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual violence.
3. Calls for hotel worker retention for a 90-day transition period in instances of a change in hotel ownership.

“The court has validated Santa Monica’s compassionate concern for the safety of hotel workers, whose hard labor makes possible our successful hospitality sector,” said Mayor Kevin McKeown.