Hospitality
Littler attorneys are widely recognized for their depth of knowledge and the creative tack they take in helping solve workplace problems for hospitality employers.
Every day, our Hospitality Industry Group helps restaurants, hotels, resorts and gaming facilities across the nation manage the myriad legal issues that impact the workplace.
Our Clients
Local Everywhere – Littler attorneys represent hospitality employers of all sizes, from national and international chains to single unit operators, and in all facets of the industry, including restaurants, hotels, resorts, and gaming facilities. No challenge is too big or too complicated.
Experience and Impact
Our attorneys represent hospitality employers in wage and hour audits and litigation, employment discrimination charges and lawsuits, union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining negotiations and labor arbitration. We assist with multi-state compliance tools and policies, and counsel hospitality employers in every facet of employment and labor law.
Representative Work
- Defending hospitality employers in class action and individual cases for discrimination, wage and hour violations, and benefits litigation.
- Auditing hospitality employers’ HR and wage and hour compliance, with specific focus on matters specific to the hospitality industry (e.g., tip credit, tip pooling, wage notice obligations, handbooks, and predictive scheduling requirements).
- Navigating the complex overlap of federal, state, and local regulation to provide industry-specific advice and counsel in employment matters.
- Representing hospitality employers in every phase of union/management relations, including organizing drives, unfair labor practice proceedings, arbitrations, and contract negotiations.
- Partnering with Littler’s Global Mobility and Immigration Practice Group to assess and address establishment-specific immigration concerns and provide I-9 compliance services and guidance.
Representative Employment Litigation Matters
- Favorable ruling from the Delaware Supreme Court rejecting the Delaware Department of Labor’s narrow interpretation of a state statute on the scope of a mandatory tip pool.
- Successful defense of a national chain in a wage and hour class action under California’s Labor Code, including, among other things, the alleged denial of breaks and meal periods.
- Representation of a large national chain that was facing several lawsuits for failure to provide appropriate public accommodation to individuals with disabilities under the ADA. Prevailing on summary judgment in the first case created a road map for defeating similar lawsuits nationwide.
- Representation of a Nevada casino in a landmark gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a female dealer whose dress and refusal to wear makeup violated the company’s grooming and appearance policies.
- Obtained summary judgment upholding an employer’s grooming standards, which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.
Traditional Labor Matters
- Provided employee engagement training and represented the operators of a luxury hotel in a union election. When the property was picketed by an engineering union, our client filed unfair labor practice charges, obtained an expedited election, coordinated the election campaign, ensured compliance with labor laws and prevailed in the election.
- Representation of a hotel management company in an organizing drive led by HERE, obtaining a ruling from the NLRB that the only appropriate voting unit would be one covering all employees. This ruling diluted the impact of the HERE’s core support and resulted in a dismissal of the organizing petition.
- Defense of a national hotel chain in a case involving allegations by a lead union organizer of unfair labor practices in the course of a union organizing drive. The NLRB dismissed the charge, finding that the lead organizer’s improper conduct negatively impacted the hotel’s operations and mandated his termination.
- Representation of the management company of an upscale California property in collective bargaining agreement negotiations with HERE, through which the management company was able to secure contracts that were separate from, and in several key respects better than, the contracts in place with the property’s closest competitors.
Administrative Claims and Regulatory Advice
- Meaningful involvement in policy issues in Washington and in state government on critical legislative issues such as joint employment, overtime, and state and city initiatives.
- Representation of a national hotelier in a wage and hour matter investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor in various states, in which the DOL agreed to abandon a complaint for misclassification of certain exempt personnel and reduce the amount of unpaid overtime for certain misclassified employees.
- Successful preparation and administration of a blood-borne pathogen control plan in compliance with OSHA regulations for a regional operator after a line cook contracted Hepatitis A.
- Prevailed on a charge of wrongful termination under USERRA (based on reservist status) filed with DVETS against a Nevada casino-resort.
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