SACRAMENTO – Several California cities, including Sacramento, have passed new requirements on hotels to better guard the safety of employees.
Most notably, efforts to protect housekeeping staff through legislation that would require hotel employers to provide their employees with panic buttons have been at the forefront of the discussion. In wake of the #MeToo movement, these requirements have grown in prominence throughout the state and country.
The Northern California Record reached out to the California Hotel and Lodging Association, a key organization heavily involved with the implementation of such requirements.
Lynn Mohrfeld
“We’re 100 percent about the safety of our guests and our employees,” said Lynn Mohrfeld, president and CEO of the California Hotel and Lodging Association, in an interview with the Record. "We’ve always been on that and we will continue to have protocols and procedures to protect the safety of our guests and our employees. We have no issues with the panic buttons and we’ve supported the panic button legislation in Sacramento…the industry has really embraced that and we as an association have embraced it as well.
However, Mohrfeld did say that they have litigated against similar measures in both Oakland and Long Beach, but not against the safety aspects of the implementations but rather the work rules that were included in those ballot measures because of the potential unionizing that could come as a reaction from the legislation passing.
“We’re completely in agreement with all the safety provisions,” Mohrfeld said. “I don’t think that the safety measures are as necessary as the public perception. Our safety records speak for themselves, but any little bit helps. We think the industry has grabbed onto this as providing means to their housekeepers, so if we can protect one more housekeeper by providing all the safety equipment through these ordinances, we’re OK with that."
Sacramento’s hotel worker protection ordinance takes effect on July 14.