LAX Holiday Inn Workers Allege Living Wage Violations

Workers at hotels near LAX on Century Boulevard are supposed to be covered under a 2008 Living Wage Ordinance providing wages of at least $11.97 an hour. A new class action lawsuit alleges that the Holiday Inn LAX willfully violated a host of wage and hour laws — and workers have revealed that conditions at the hotel are unsafe for guests.

UNITE HERE Local 11, who are supporting bartenders, housekeepers, cooks and other Holiday Inn LAX employees, issued a press release on the new class-action lawsuit, that seeks damages for, “back wages, not respecting [employees’] right to take meal breaks, not reimbursing them for expenses incurred while performing their work, and failure to pay them the mandatory ‘Living Wage’ required for all LAX-area hotels.”

Workers allege that they worked over eight hours a day without being paid overtime, their time sheets were tampered with, that they were forced to work without clocking in and that tipped employees were denied amassed gratuity.

Carmen Linares, a housekeeper at Holiday Inn LAX said:

I’ve worked for two hours after punching out. I punch out then I have to go back to work unpaid. This is wrong.

Shockingly, Holiday Inn required housekeepers to purchase their own cleaning supplies — leading to disgusting conditions for guests. Los Angeles-based FOX 11 carried out an investigation on conditions at the Holiday Inn. Speaking to FOX, former Holiday Inn room cleaning supervisor Lupe Alvarado stated there was, “[n]o soap for laundry for almost two weeks.” Five current employees, speaking off the record, confirmed Alvarado’s claims and went on, saying that bathrooms were cleaned not with soap, but with leftover shampoo; dishes were washed with only hot water and workers who felt bad about conditions were forced to purchase their own supplies.

While cleanliness at the hotel and treatment of workers are separate issues, worker reports from the Holiday Inn at LAX paint a picture of management who are looking to cut corners by any means — not only ignoring wage laws, but putting the health of their guests at risk.

Unionosity covers topics related to work, the workplace, equality, fairness and progressive policy. This post is republished with permission.