ORANGE COUNTY

The City has refused to disclose information about employer applications for waivers from Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance, which protects housekeepers from assault and overly burdensome workloads

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 06/14/2024
CONTACT: Josh Nuni | (213) 293-9797 | [email protected]

Irvine, Calif.: Yesterday, UNITE HERE Local 11 filed a lawsuit against the City of Irvine, alleging that the City violated the California Public Records Act by refusing to disclose information the union requested relating to enforcement of the Irvine Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance.

The Ordinance protects Irvine hotel workers from violent or threatening conduct from guests by requiring employers to provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in guest rooms or restrooms; and prevents hotels from assigning housekeepers overly burdensome workloads without fair compensation. Hotels are eligible for a waiver if they can show that complying would cause a significant adverse economic impact, such as “bankruptcy, a shutdown of the hotel, reduction of the hotel’s workforce by more than 20 percent, or curtailment of hotel workers’ total hours by more than 30 percent.”

Embassy Suites Irvine and at least 15 other hotel employers submitted applications to the City for a waiver from the law the month that workload-related provisions of the Ordinance went into effect, apparently claiming that compliance would cause a significant adverse economic impact. Nearly a year after submitting a Public Records Act request to the City of Irvine requesting the materials submitted by Embassy Suites Irvine and other hotels in support of their waiver applications, the City has refused to provide these documents—including documents demonstrating purported financial hardship.

A year later, the City has yet to indicate its position on these applications.

Embassy Suites Irvine is owned by RLJ Lodging Trust and operated by Sage Client 439, LLC, a subsidiary of Sage Hospitality Group. RLJ Lodging Trust reported $324.4 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2024 alone and, according to SEC filings, paid CEO Leslie Hale more than $8.5M in 2023. In November 2023, analysts projected Sage Hospitality Group to surpass $1 billion in revenues by the end of the year, according to CoStar.

In June 2023, Local 11 submitted a Public Records Act request to the City of Irvine, requesting the materials submitted by Embassy Suites Irvine and other hotels in support of their waiver applications, including documents demonstrating purported financial hardship. To date, the City has refused to produce these documents.

Irvine adopted the Ordinance in November 2022. Similar ordinances have passed throughout California, including in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Glendale, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Emeryville, as well as in Seattle.

Josh Nuni of The People’s Law Project: Los Angeles is representing Local 11.

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UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports.