Who must post the Oakland, CA Hotel Minimum Wage and Working Conditions Poster?
Oakland hotels with 50 or more guest rooms or suites of rooms are required to post each of the notices on the Oakland, CA Hotel Minimum Wage and Working Conditions Poster. The postings are required by voter-approved Measure Z (2018), which amended the Oakland Municipal Code (OMC)to provide certain protections specifically for hotel workers. In addition to this poster, Oakland hotel employers must post #05757 (Oakland Paid Sick Leave and Service Charge Law).
Who is a “hotel employee” covered by the ordinance?
- A hotel employer is a person who owns, controls, and/or operates a hotel in the City of Oakland, or a person who owns, controls, and/or operates any contracted, leased, or sublet premises connected to or operated in conjunction with the hotel’s purpose, or a person, other than a hotel employee, who provides services at the hotel. Hotel employers may contract with another person such as another hotel employer, a temporary staffing agency, employee leasing agency or professional employer organization, to obtain the services of hotel employees and the law covers such contractors.
- A hotel worker is covered if the worker was hired to work or did work an average of 5 hours/week or more for 4 weeks at one or more covered hotels. A hotel worker may be employed directly by the hotel or by a person who has contracted with the hotel to provide services at a hotel.
How are hotel workers protected?
Panic Buttons: Measure Z requires Oakland hotels to provide employees who work alone in guest rooms with a panic button to report an ongoing crime, threat or other emergency, and support after reporting such violence or threatening behavior. This support includes reassignment and paid time to contact the police and consult with a counselor or advisor.
Minimum Wage: Measure provides for a minimum wage rate for hotel workers. The rate that must be paid depends on whether or not the employer provides healthcare benefits. To pay the lower minimum wage rate, the hotel employer must pay a minimum amount per hour toward the employee’s health care benefits. The minimum wage rate increases annually with inflation, starting on January 1, 2020. The minimum wage rate may not be offset by gratuities, service charge distributions, or bonuses.
Workload Restrictions: Measure Z also establishes workload restrictions and limitations on mandatory overtime:
- A hotel employer cannot require a room cleaner to clean more than 4,000 square feet of floor space in any one, eight-hour workday
unless the employee is paid double his or her regular rate of pay for all hours during that day. - If a room cleaner works fewer than eight hours in a workday, the maximum floor space the employer can required the employee to clean
without paying double the employee’s regular rate of pay is reduced proportionately. - If a room cleaner must clean check-out rooms, the maximum floor space the employee may clean without have to pay double the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked that day is reduced.
- Except in emergency situations, a hotel employer cannot “suffer or permit” a hotel employee to work more than ten hours in any workday unless the hotel employee voluntarily consents in writing. There are specific procedures for informed consent.
Additional Protections: Measure Z guarantees employees access to records regarding their pay rate, daily workload and overtime, and protects employees against retaliation for exercising their rights under the measure. Hotel employers must keep records of compliance for at least three years. A hotel worker whose rights have been violated may file a complaint with the City or may file a lawsuit against their employer.