On April 2, Teukolsky Law filed a class action lawsuit against Hotel Figueroa, alleging the hotel and its operators violated Los Angeles’s Hotel Worker Retention Ordinance when they failed to protect workers’ jobs after the hotel’s food and beverage operator, Noble 33, abruptly laid off all of its employees in February 2024.

The Hotel Worker Retention Ordinance was enacted to protect hotel workers affected by mass layoffs, which frequently occur when corporate ownership or management of a hotel changes. When employees are laid off following such a change, the Ordinance requires hotels and their operators to retain employees for a brief transitional period to ensure employment stabilization and reduce demands on social services.

In the case of Hotel Figueroa, more than 100 workers lost their jobs after Noble 33 decided to cease operations at the hotel days after the staff notified management of their intent to unionize. Noble 33 was quickly replaced by a new operator, The Botanical Group, but the lawsuit alleges that none of its former non-management staff were retained, including Maria Ibarra, a former cook for Noble 33.

Hotel Figueroa operates out of one of downtown Los Angeles’s most famous buildings, a 14 floor Spanish Mediterranean property that also houses upscale restaurants such as Café Fig and La Casita. The dispute at the hotel may be indicative of a broader Southern California trend of food workers standing up to their employers and alleging labor and employment law violations.
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For UNITE HERE Local 11’s press release on Ms. Ibarra’s lawsuit, click here. For more on Ms. Teukolsky  and her practice, click here. 

Law360 quoted Lauren Teukolsky in an article published earlier this month discussing Los Angeles’s new Fair Work Week Ordinance. The new law was passed by LA City Council in late November and seeks to alleviate the negative impacts that unpredictable workweeks have on thousands of Angelenos working in the retail sector.

A UCLA study released in 2018 found that 8 in 10 retail workers have fluctuating workweeks over which they have no control. This level of unpredictability makes caring for children, elderly parents, budgeting, and attending classes more difficult and can lead to financial insecurity.

The ordinance requires retailers to notify employees of their work schedule at least 14 calendar days in advance of the start of the work period. It also bans retailers from compelling employees to change work locations or hours after their work schedule has been published without first getting the employee’s consent. Employees who consent to a change are entitled to an additional hour of pay at their regular rate.

The ordinance also requires retailers provide premium pay to employees who have 10 hours or less between shifts. Retailers must also offer work to current employees before hiring employees or contractors to take on the additional work.

Only retailers in the city of Los Angeles with 300 or more employees globally must adhere to the ordinance’s requirements. However, future legislation may extend the ordinance’s provisions to other industries, as discussed in the article:

“’It will be interesting to see if predictive scheduling in Los Angeles gets expanded to other industries and professions that could benefit from predictive scheduling,’ said worker-side attorney Lauren Teukolsky of Teukolsky Law, who is based in the Los Angeles area.”
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To read the Law360 article in its entirety, click here. To learn more about Ms. Teukolsky’s practice and get in touch with our office, click here.