Tag Archives: Fines

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Class Action Lawsuit Goes After Hotels That Fail to Disclose Resort Fees”

“Brian Kabateck, an attorney for Brin, said he has heard from many hotel guests who have groused about being surprised by resort fees on their hotel receipts. “This is really an insidious practice,” he saidresort fees lawsuit…Although the U.S. Department of Transportation regularly imposes fines against airlines that fail to disclose the full airfare, there may be too many hotels in the U.S. for the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the disclosure law on hotels, Kabateck said.”

If you have ever glanced at your hotel receipt only to be stunned to see an unexpected $28 resort fee, help may be on the way.

A Studio City man has filed a class-action suit against a Las Vegas casino, claiming that the resort is guilty of false and misleading advertising for failing to clearly disclose a mandatory resort fee at the time that he booked the room.

The practice is not unique to Las Vegas.

Undisclosed resort fees are such a prevalent problem that the Federal Trade Commission sent out a letter to 22 hotel companies in 2012, warning that their online reservation sites “may violate the law by providing a deceptively low estimate of what consumers can expect to pay for their hotel rooms.”

For more: http://lat.ms/1HN6ia9

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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Employment Risks: California Restaurant Found Liable For Over $480,000 In Penalties, Unpaid Wages By EDD; Failed To Pay Minimum Wage, “Split-Shift” Premium

“…(the restaurant) owners are individually and jointly responsible for $108,200 in civil penalties, as well as $373,613 owed to their workers in unpaid minimum wages, overtime pay, rest period, and split-shift premiums…Workers were not paid the state-mandated minimum wage for California Employment Development Departmenthours worked or the one-and-a-half regular rate of pay for overtime hours. Rather, the owners paid in cash: $45 per day for servers and between $75 and $120 for kitchen staff…”

“…The pay rate was further inadequate because it did not reflect the “split-shift” premium, as is required when employees work two or more shifts in a workday with an unpaid break of more than an hour. Workers were not allowed to leave the premises before 2:30 each afternoon when business was closed to the public, and then reported back at 4:30 p.m. for several more hours of work. The investigation also revealed that employers had not kept time records prior to September 1, 2013, or provided staff with itemized wage statements….”

California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su issued to the owners of a restaurant in Alameda citations totaling $481,813 The citations consisted of civil penalties and wages owed to 13 employees for violation of minimum wage, overtime, and rest period laws. The Labor Commissioner’s joint inspection with the Employment Development Department (EDD) was based on complaints filed in August. The investigation revealed that the cooks, dishwashers, kitchen helpers, and servers employed by Toomie’s Thai Cuisine routinely worked at least 10.5 hours each day, up to 7 days a week.

“The Labor Commissioner is charged with ensuring that employees are paid for all wages they are owed,” affirmed Christine Baker, director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). The Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), is a division within the DIR.

Labor Commissioner Su stated, “We want to create a culture of compliance where employers profit by playing by the rules and employers who have concluded that it is cheaper to break the law, that the chances of getting caught are slim, and the costs even if you do get caught are minimal know that those days are over.”

Additional information on labor laws and work-related topics are available on the DIR website at http://www.dir.ca.gov.

For more: http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Compensation/Wage-and-Hour-Investigations/CA-labor-commissioner-cites-restaurant-481813-for

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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New Jersey Restaurant Group Fined $500,000 For “Substituting And Selling Cheap Liquor For Premium Brands”

“…The fine includes $400,000 for the violations and $100,000 to cover investigative costs…at one of the 29 businesses, a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water that was not even clean. Restaurant Liquor Sales Liability 1The state never identified which restaurants or bars those were…The franchisee also faces a lawsuit in state court by two women who claim Briad had instituted a uniform policy to substitute cut-rate liquor for premium brands for during at least a year, in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. It seeks reimbursement for all customer losses and punitive damages of three times the price of each drink…”

An operator of TGI Fridays restaurants in New Jersey has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for serving customers cheap booze when they paid for top shelf. Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said Wednesday that the fine levied against Livingston-based Briad Group, as a result of an investigation dubbed Operation Swill, should send a message to every bar and restaurant in the state that customers should always get what they pay for.

Under terms of the settlement, Briad agreed not to contest charges that eight of its restaurants were selling customers cheap substitutes in place of premium alcohol. It also agreed to employ a state-appointed monitor through June 14 to ensure its restaurants and employees are in compliance.

As long as there are no further violations during that period, the businesses will avoid five-day suspensions of their liquor licenses, the attorney general said.

For more:  http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/07/31/tgi-fridays-fined-for-switching-liquor/tFC5CnrWxLByqT35hxVI6J/story.html

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Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Kentucky Restaurants Sued By Cities For "Multiple False Alarms"; Thousands Of Dollars In Unpaid Fines

“…The city has filed 37 lawsuits in recent weeks — with at least 13 more pending — against the most egregious offenders, seeking thousands of dollars in unpaid fines and hoping to send a message about fixing alarms that False_Alarmswaste police time and cost taxpayer dollars…”

More than 40 times since 2008, Louisville Metro Police Department officers have made emergency runs to the Taco Bell on East Broadway, only to find they were responding to a false alarm.

Under a policy enacted in June 2005 that aims to crack down on residents and businesses who have multiple false alarms, the city has fined the Taco Bell — repeatedly — up to $500 per false alarm.

But the restaurant, like some others, has not paid its fines, which now total $10,700, according to city records.

Before police began charging fees for false burglary and hold-up alarms in 2005, officers were responding to more than 40,000 false alarms a year, Gibson said. Since then, that number has fallen dramatically, with less than 20,000 false alarm runs through October of this year.

For more:  http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121203/NEWS01/312030096/City-sues-collect-false-alarm-fines?odyssey=nav|head

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Filed under Labor Issues, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training