Court throws out Seattle’s hotel panic button law
The Washington State Court of Appeals has knocked back Seattle’s hotel worker protection legislation which included the use of panic buttons.
The court said the Initiative 124 bill violated the ‘single subject’ condition which stops disparate rules being bundled together into a single law.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association filed a lawsuit against the law and the court ruled in its favor, agreeing that the seven different parts of the law had no ‘rational unity.’
ALHA also said part of it was unconstitutional.
It required hotels to keep records of guests who had been accused of sexual assault or harassment of hotel workers, and could be banned from hotel under certain conditions.
"Requiring hotels to maintain a list of people who have been accused of sexually harassing hotel employees is unrelated to limiting the number of square feet a hotel worker can be required to clean in an eight-hour period without being paid overtime, or requiring a hotel to create a seniority list from which a new owner must hire employees for a period of time after a change in ownership," the court said.
ALHA CEO Katherine Lugar said: "This is welcome news for hotel owners and operators not only in Seattle, but throughout the country, setting an important legal precedent."
"As we stated in court, we opposed Seattle Initiative 124 because we believe it violates the due-process rights of our guests and places hotel employees in the role of law enforcement, without proper training," she added.
The Unite here union said it will work with the city to amend it where required ‘to ensure that the will of Seattle voters is upheld and the needs of Seattle hotel workers are met.’
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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