Hospitality HR News: Tag / hotel HR issues

What's Worse than Lawsuits? When an employee alleges unlawful discrimination, hospitality employers face potential damage greater than legal costs.  The big liability, says one industry HR expert, is when employees lose trust in their employer. Chuck Conine, managing partner of Hospitality HR Solutions notes one recently settled employment lawsuit is an example of how long-ranging impacts may result when employees lose faith in the employer. "An Iraqi-American employee told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that he'd been forced to quit his job as a hotel chef because of ongoing...


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The "T" in Teamwork Whether you operate a hotel, resort, restaurant, casino, cruise line or other hospitality company, or if you are an instructor or student in hospitality management, making work teams successful is an essential ingredient of your success. In his latest column for the Smith Travel Research publication "Hotel News Now" Chuck Conine, hospitality industry HR expert and managing partner of Hospitality HR Solutions, offers eight keys to energize the employee teams that power each hospitality employer's operations. Conine says that the first rule may seem too obvious:  Pick...


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HR Expert Comments March 8 -- A leading hospitality industry HR expert says a ruling last week by a US District Court that the National Labor Relations Board is within its discretion to require employers to post a union rights poster has resulted in more "twist and turns by competing forces " that will no doubt keep the long-running controversy alive. Hospitality industry human resources expert Chuck Conine, commenting on a planned appeal of the court's ruling by the National Association of Manufacturers also lauds National Restaurant Association executive Dawn Sweeney, saying the association...


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New Challenge for Employers:  The I-Phone? The US Department of Labor has released "Timesheet", a free application that I-Phone users can use to track their hours of work.  The agency said that the information the application provides could prove "invaluable" in any Wage & Hour Division (WHD)  investigation of employer pay practices.   Impact on Employers This new tool further increases pressure on employers to keep accurate records of hours of work, pay rates, overtime hours and rest period/break times.  The WHD announcement also underscores the Obama Administration's continued...


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Class Action Waivers Valid, Says Supreme Court Employers wondering whether the benefits of mandatory arbitration of employment disputes can help reduce or possibly eliminate expensive and time-consuming class action cases received an answer this week when the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory arbitration agreements can require the parties to waive their right to participate in class action litigation. The management-side law firm of Fisher & Phillips was quick to announce the "welcome news". It's Always Time to Review Existing Policies Our view is that HR policies are never current....


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Hospitality Leaders Find Success Through Transparency McDonald's has announced plans to hire 50,000 new employees in April.  But the publicity its move is generating is also designed to tell a story about the foodservice giant, one that isn't often heard much less acknowledged. In an interview in the Wall St. Journal several McDonald's people are speaking out, working to change an old image popularized by those who sought to minimize the opportunities for those working at the company by referring to employment at McDonald's as a "McJob".   "We want to show what a McJob really means to those...


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Accommodating Religious Beliefs in the Hospitality Workplace One of the most challenging HR issues for hospitality managers to understand, evaluate and manage is the concept of accommodating employee religious beliefs.  Why?  Our industry is chock full of employees hailing from many nations and cultures whose religious beliefs may at times seem incompatible with employer requirements, particularly those involving standards for guest-facing employees. Take for example the case last year of a Disneyland hostess who sued the "happiest place on earth" employer for refusing her request to wear...


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