Feds Issue Complaint Against Shore Hotel Claiming Labor Law Violations

Santa Monica, 10/3 The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Shore Hotel alleging that management of the Shore Hotel illegally terminated three workers: Jonah Breslau, Krista Fonseca, and Felecia Scott.

One worker, Ms. Fonseca, was fired on September 9, 2015-three weeks after she testified at the California Coastal Commission that the head of security at the hotel told her and her coworkers: "If we were about to be sexually assaulted, the best course of action would be to defecate ourselves in order to avoid it so we'd become so disgusting that no man would want to touch us."

Other alleged labor law violations in the complaint include illegally interrogating employees about union activity, making coercive statements to employees, engaging in surveillance of employees participating in union activity, singling out union supporters at a mandatory employee meeting, and threatening employees for engaging in union activity.

Under federal labor law workers have the right to participate in union activity without being threatened, intimidated or singled out.

The complaint issued by the General Council specifically identified brothers Robert and Steve Farzam, respectively Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Shore Hotel, as two of the alleged perpetrators of the labor law violations.

The Shore Hotel has until October 14 to answer the complaint, and the allegations will be brought to trial before an Administrative Law Judge of the NLRB in December unless settled.

UNITE HERE Local 11 represents over 20,000 hospitality workers in Southern California that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports.