The Hyatt Regency Long Beach has been ordered by California’s labor commissioner to pay fines of almost $4.8 million for its failure to provide job opportunities to workers who were laid off during the COVID-19 shutdowns.
According to a Tuesday news release from the office of Lilia García-Brower, the state labor commissioner, the hotel did not offer timely job positions to 25 employees, including restaurant servers, bartenders, housekeepers, cashiers, and stewards. The fine will be given to the affected workers.
This citation falls under California’s “right to recall” law, which requires employers in the hospitality and building services industries to offer available job openings first to those who were laid off during the pandemic as their businesses return to normal. Senate Bill 93, the law in question, went into effect in spring 2021 and was originally set to expire on December 31, 2024. However, on October 10, Governor Newsom signed SB 723, extending the right of recall until December 31, 2025, for employees in the hospitality and building services sectors.
“Some of these employees had up to 24 years of experience and suddenly found themselves without work due to a public health emergency,” stated García-Brower in the Tuesday release. “The employer failed to comply with the law by not offering them their previous positions.”
The general manager in charge of Hyatt’s Long Beach properties did not respond to a request for comment.
Unite Here Local 11, the union representing Hyatt Regency workers, claimed that this fine is the largest ever issued under the right to recall law. The union asserts that the law, which mandates jobs be offered based on seniority, prevents businesses from replacing older workers with younger, lower-paid staff during the pandemic shutdowns, particularly affecting women and people of color.
The labor commissioner’s office conducted an investigation in response to complaints from Hyatt Regency Long Beach workers, which began in September 2022. The investigation included subpoenaing the hotel, interviewing employees, and taking depositions of human resources managers.
Under the law, an employer can be fined $500 per worker for each day they fail to comply with recall rights. In the Hyatt Regency case, the state determined that there were a total of 8,983 days of violations.
The first right to recall citation was issued by the state in March 2022 to the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, resulting in $3.3 million in fines. Terranea appealed the fines, arguing that the law was unclear. However, in July, the resort reached a settlement with the state and agreed to pay $1.52 million without admitting fault.
This recent citation is just one of several disputes between the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and its employees. In February, two housekeepers filed a class-action lawsuit against the hotel, claiming they were not paid double-time as required by a local ordinance and often missed their legally mandated 10-minute breaks due to heavy workloads.
This lawsuit is the first of its kind in Long Beach and other California cities, backed by Unite Here Local 11 and other unions seeking to regulate hotel working conditions. The proposed legislation requires housekeepers to have access to panic buttons and receive additional compensation for heavier workloads. The case is currently pending.
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