Hospitality Employees

If you work in the hospitality industry, you strive each day to make the customers you serve feel valued and respected. You deserve to feel that way too. As a valuable employee in an industry built on making others feel comfortable and welcomed, you have earned the right to be treated and paid fairly for your work.

In far too many cases, however, employers in the hospitality industry fail to comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations intended to protect the employees upon whom they depend. At Outten & Golden, we're here to help hospitality workers assert their rights and demand the legal protection they deserve.

KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING YOUR RIGHTS AS A HOSPITALITY EMPLOYEE

As a valued hospitality employee, you should understand your workplace rights under the law and feel confident about asserting them. Our attorneys are proud to have successfully helped numerous hospitality employees assert their rights against high-profile employers for violations such as:

• Discrimination and Harassment: There are a variety of federal, state, and local laws, including Title VII and others that prohibit discrimination against employees based on certain protected categories. Victims of discrimination and harassment deserve to have their rights protected.

• Wage and Hour Issues: There are a variety of wage and hour issues that can arise in the hospitality industry. Many hospitality employees receive tips. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, it is illegal for an employer to use employee tips for any reason other than as a credit against minimum wage obligations or to require contributing to an invalid tip pool. In other instances, employers unlawfully deduct the costs of uniforms and other equipment necessary to do the job from employee wages. There are any number of other issues that may arise for which you'll need knowledgeable and experienced representation.

• Unlawful Termination and Retaliation: You are entitled to assert your rights as an employee. You are entitled to speak out when you are subjected to discrimination or a hostile work environment or see others being similarly mistreated. You should never be terminated or experience retaliation for asserting your rights under the law.

• Employee Misclassification: All too often, employers in the hospitality industry may intentionally misclassify workers to save money and avoid complying with applicable labor laws. This may include classifying workers as "trainees" or "interns" instead of as employees or intentionally mislabeling a worker as an "independent contractor" when they are actually an employee. Misclassified workers may not be paid lawful minimum wages or overtime pay and may be entitled to backpay under the FLSA.

• Many other causes of action[*]

OUTTEN AND GOLDEN – EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS FOR HOSPITALITY EMPLOYEES

At Outten & Golden, we have the knowledge and expertise necessary to represent employees in claims against a variety of employers in the hospitality industry, including:

• Individual or collective groups of hospitality franchisees
• Hotels, restaurants, resorts, and casinos
• National and regional hospitality and tourism associations
• Gaming facilities
• Recreational facilities
• And a variety of other hospitality employers.

Our attorneys have extensive knowledge of ADEA and ADA laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Equal Pay Act, and workplace safety regulations, including OSHA. We are well-versed in negotiating and drafting fair compensation plans and ensuring the necessary enforcement of applicable security and privacy laws, hiring and termination policies, and other applicable regulations, policies, and standards.

If you are an employee in the hospitality industry and need legal guidance regarding an employment issue, we're here to help. Please contact us to discuss your circumstances with a knowledgeable and experienced Outten & Golden attorney.

(*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)