Duff on Hospitality Law

I’m pleased to introduce guest author, Nick Montera, Vice President, Account Executive and head of the hospitality practice at Parker, Smith & Feek. PS&F is an insurance and risk management brokerage firm headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, providing innovative insurance solutions to clients nationwide. We appreciate Nick sharing his expertise and insights on this important and timely subject. - Greg Duff

Marriott International, Inc. found out the expensive way that it should not disable customers’ mobile hotspots. It entered a Consent Decree with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in which it agreed to pay $600,000 to the U.S. Treasury.

Hotels are faced with a delicate balancing act when it comes to maintaining guest privacy. Hotel staff must comply with police investigations when noncompliance would constitute obstruction of justice. At the same time, hotel employees must recognize their guests' Fourth Amendment right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. If hotel employees comply with an unreasonable search or seizure that results in harm to the guest, the hotel could find itself exposed to civil liability.

California employers are currently scratching their heads over how to interpret “suitable seating” that is required under California Wage Orders. Nancy Cooper, member of our Labor and Employment Group and Hospitality, Travel and Tourism practice team, discusses how that term is defined will affect your business. Thank you for today’s post, Nancy! - Greg

On June 2, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to approve a $15 minimum wage ordinance. Mayor Ed Murray signed it the next day. The ordinance provides that all employers will be required to reach the $15 per hour wage over a period of years, depending on their number of employees. Very generally speaking, and subject to a number of specifics touched on below, employers with 500 or fewer employees will be required to pay $10.00 an hour starting on April 1, 2015, and will make annual increases culminating in $15.00 an hour in 2021. Employers with more than 500 employers will need to pay $11.00 an hour starting in April 2015, and will reach $15.00 an hour in 2017 (2018 for employers who contribute to employee health insurance premiums).

Employers are grappling not only with how to manage the logistics of the increased wage, but with how to read the ordinance’s many definitions and exceptions. In the coming months we expect to see rule making and legal challenges that will hopefully clarify the impacts of the ordinance, so stay tuned. This blog post addresses a few of the questions we’ve been hearing so far.

Is hotel rebranding the latest 2014 trend? Claire Hawkins, Chair of Garvey Schubert Barer's Intellectual Property Practice and new author to Duff on Hospitality, weighs in on the topic and offers her insights on the intellectual property elements you'll need to consider. Thank you for today's post, Claire! - Greg

The hospitality industry regularly faces tremendous challenges, ranging from unexpected tornadoes to salmonella lurking in organic eggs requested by guests. However, negative reviews on TripAdvisor.com or similar sites pose particularly perplexing challenges. Should the business respond or ignore them? Our newest post discusses the latest legal developments regarding negative on-line reviews. – Greg 

I’m pleased to introduce guest author Sam Engel, from BrandVerity. BrandVerity provides services that detect online brand and trademark abuse for a variety of industries including hospitality. Sam spoke recently to members of our Hospitality, Travel and Tourism team at our monthly meeting. We’re grateful that Sam has offered to now share his experience and knowledge with our readers. Welcome, Sam, and thank you for today’s post. – Greg

Today’s blog post was contributed by Garvey Schubert Barer’s D.C. attorney and member of the firm's China Practice, Richard Gluck, based on original research by GSB’s Yi Zhang. His extensive knowledge of international business and collaboration between the U.S. and China is a great resource to the firm. We’re grateful to have him as a new author to the Duff on Hospitality blog. – Greg

As you may know, discrimination based on gender identity is unlawful in several states and many cities. This includes both the State of Washington and the City of Seattle. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has also taken the position that gender identity is protected under Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex.

While the antidiscrimination laws that protect transgendered individuals are not new, the subject of gender identity may be new to your managers. This post is intended to provide a very basic understanding of transgender issues to get employers off on the right foot for appropriately, sensitively, and lawfully handling gender expression issues in the workplace.