SoCal hotel workers’ union sues Starwood

Alex Veiga

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- A union representing Southern California hotel workers sued the Starwood Hotels chain Thursday, claiming workers at two of its hotels were denied meal and rest breaks and are now entitled to back pay.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also seeks class-action status to cover roughly 1,000 current and past housekeepers, waiters, cooks and other employees of the Westin Century Plaza Hotel & Spa and the St. Regis Los Angeles.

The lawsuit claims the workers were shortchanged pay as required by the state's labor code and the Industrial Welfare Commission and seeks damages equaling one hour's pay for each missed break.

The hotels are part of a consortium of Los Angeles-area hotels currently embroiled in a labor dispute with the workers' union, Unite Here Local 11. Some 3,000 hotel employees have been working without a contract since June.

The 12-page complaint names four employees at the two hotels -- Edgar Bonilla, Ronald Chiaravalle, Elisa Benavidez and Marina Bushmeloff -- who claim they did not receive meal or rest breaks, and were not compensated for those missed breaks.

All four of the employees have worked for the hotels since at least 2001, according to the lawsuit.

No one could be reached for comment after hours at White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Calls to Fred Muir, a spokesman for the nine-hotel Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council, were not immediately returned Thursday.

The lawsuit comes amid preparations by the union to threaten a strike. On Tuesday, a majority of its membership voted to authorize a walkout in a bid to pressure an agreement with the hotel operators, though no date was set for such action.

Contract talks in Los Angeles have been going on for weeks under the guidance of a federal mediator but both sides remain far apart.