California hospitality and service workers who were laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic will have a guaranteed right to return to their jobs when their employers resume business under a bill passed this week by the Assembly.
Assembly Bill 3216 provides laid-off workers with a “right of recall,” requiring employers to offer to rehire laid-off workers when their former or similar positions become available.
The measure must clear the state Senate and gain the governor’s signature to become law. Unite Here, Local 11, a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers throughout Southern California and Arizona, is leading the effort to pass AB 3216.
The legislation ensures workers are able to keep their jobs if ownership of a property changes hands during the economic crisis and expands protections for workers to take family care and medical leave, among other measures to help working families survive the pandemic.
Massive layoffs
The state in the depths of lockdown orders shed millions of jobs in three months with at least 5.4 million workers filing for unemployment benefits.
California’s leisure and hospitality sector added 64,800 jobs in May, but the industry’s year-over-year employment count was down by 891,500 jobs, the state’s deepest annual job loss.
AB 3216 covers a wide swath of hospitality workers at hotels, airports and convention centers, including bellhops, front desk workers, waiters, waitresses, security guards, janitors and housekeeping employees, among others.
One employee’s account
Antonio Rodriguez, a non-union employee who worked as a banquet server at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, lost his job of 10 years after a temporary layoff.
He said he was placed on leave when the resort was forced to close during the pandemic and then was terminated along with several coworkers May 11 with no commitment from management to be rehired.
“Terranea left me and my family without extended health insurance in the midst of the pandemic,” Rodriguez said. “Many of us gave a decade of our lives to the Terranea, but this shows how they really see us.
“When AB 3216 becomes the law, that will take a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said.
‘Essential to survival’
Terranea furloughed more than 1,100 employees in March, although it continued to pay health insurance premiums throughout April and May for workers and their families on Terranea’s health care plan.
“While these staffing reductions and salary cuts were essential to Terranea’s survival, we are working diligently to move forward and recover our business and bring our employees back to work,” the resort said in a statement.
Terranea has begun to recall some of its furloughed employees and will that process will continue according to its seniority policy, management said.
The ‘new normal’
Hospitality workers who regain their jobs in the hospitality industry will be operating in the “new normal.” They will be wearing masks, and in many cases gloves, with social distancing and constant sanitizing of tables, chairs, desks and other common surfaces.
And breakfast buffets? Those will likely be a thing of the past, according to the California Hotel & Lodging Association.
“Most hotels that have remained open already went to prepackaged and easy-to-go food like yogurts and muffins,” the association said. “After someone exits a room, it has been suggested by a risk management expert to leave it open for three days before cleaning, for the virus to die.”
Allegations of sexual harassment
Terranea reopened to guests on Friday, June 19, and non-guests will be allowed to access the resort Saturday for takeout service from its restaurants providing they make a reservation. They will also have access to the resort’s hiking trails.Terranea’s termination of its longtime employees is the most recent in a series of labor relations controversies at the upscale property, including allegations of sexual harassment.
Terranea said it has a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment and investigates any complaints of misconduct. Management said allegations of sexual harassment surfaced only after Unite Here targeted the resort for unionization in late 2017.
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Bill guaranteeing ‘right of recall’ for laid off hospitality workers clears California Assembly - East Bay Times
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