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This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer. Please contact me at Jim Butler at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526.

Labor & Employment

Posted On: October 6, 2011 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Labor & Employment Update: California Supreme Court one step closer to decision in meal and rest period case

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
6 October 2011

My partner, labor and employment lawyer Scott Brink, has informed us that the California Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in a high-profile labor law case, Brinker Restaurant v. Superior Court, on November 8, 2011. He believes it is likely we will see a decision within the following 90 days.

The outcome could curb a wave of class action lawsuits in California -- or provide the fuel for more of them.

At issue in the case is whether California employers must ensure that their employees actually take their meal and rest periods or merely make them available. Here is Scott's update.


Continue reading " Hotel Labor & Employment Update: California Supreme Court one step closer to decision in meal and rest period case " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: September 20, 2011 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Labor and Employment Lawyer Update: Controversial Union Rights Notice Subject to Legal Challenge -- Employers Should Not Rush To Post It

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
20 September 2011


On September 10 2011 , we let you know that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is making it harder to stay union free.

As of November 14, 2011, most private sector employers are required, by a controversial new National Labor Relations Board rule, to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Now, according to my partner, labor and employment lawyer Scott Brink, the NLRB's authority to issue the new rule is already the subject of legal challenge.

Because NLRB enforcement of the new rule may be delayed -- pending the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the validity of the rule -- employers should not rush to post the notice before the November 14, 2011 deadline.

Scott's brief article below explains what is going on and why you need to pay attention to this important development.

A link to the NLRB's Form of Notice, which was issued September 14, 2011, may be found at the end of the article.

Continue reading " Hotel Labor and Employment Lawyer Update: Controversial Union Rights Notice Subject to Legal Challenge -- Employers Should Not Rush To Post It " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: September 10, 2011 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Labor and Employment Lawyer Alert: The NLRB is making it harder to stay union free.

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
10 September 2011

A highly controversial new law, which many employers believe will unfairly foster union organizing, requires that employers post notices of employee rights -- including the right to organize, join or discuss the activities of a union. The law goes into effect on November 14, 2011.

Employers must comply with the new rule whether they have a unionized work force or not.

My partner, labor and employment lawyer Scott Brink, has outlined in his article below the requirements the new rule imposes on employers.

Scott and the labor and employment lawyers of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® have represented the hospitality industry in all aspects of labor and employment law including union prevention, collective bargaining negotiations, and defense of unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB. If you have questions about how this new rule will impact your hotel business, we can help.

Continue reading " Hotel Labor and Employment Lawyer Alert: The NLRB is making it harder to stay union free. " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: July 12, 2010 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Labor Lawyer Alert: U.S. Department of Labor targets the hospitality industry

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
12 July 2010

Hotel Lawyer with an alert about the DOL's historic action targeting hotels.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is taking historic action. With a huge increase in funding and staffing, the DOL is specifically targeting audits and enforcement actions for every hotel, motel, and resort in the U.S. The program will search for violations of overtime rules, minimum wage, and classification of exempt and non-exempt positions. In addition, one of the primary focal points of these audits will be employers with workers holding H-2B visas.

Hotel labor lawyer Marta Fernandez and hotel lawyer, Jim Abrams, both senior members of the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, say, " We expect that the DOL compliance audits will cover all of the laws administered by the DOL and WHD including H-2B labor certification wage requirements and other federal laws such as minimum wage, overtime, and family and medical leave."

In today's Alert, they also suggest "4 Things that you should do now -- Before it is too late."

Continue reading " Hotel Labor Lawyer Alert: U.S. Department of Labor targets the hospitality industry " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: January 5, 2009 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

The Best from the Blog -- Hotel Lawyers

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
5 January 2009

To say the least, the last year has been a very "interesting" one. Here are our picks for "The Best from HotelLawBlog.com" from 2008. There are some classic pieces here!

Continue reading " The Best from the Blog -- Hotel Lawyers " »

Posted In: ADA Defense , Global Financial Crisis & Recovery , Green Hotels , Hotel Finance − Hotel Debt & Hotel Equity , Hotel Management Agreements , Hotel Mixed-Use , Labor & Employment , Meet the Money® , Timeshare , Workouts, Bankruptcies & Receiverships

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Posted On: December 1, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyer Marta Fernandez: Winning the Hearts, Minds and Loyalty of Your Workforce BEFORE the Union Comes Calling

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
1 December 2008

Hospitality Lawyer with insights on "What you CAN do NOW" . . . before the pending Employee Free Choice Act is adopted and the unions come calling. Today we are going to talk about a monumentally important event facing the hotel industry, that is almost certain to happen with Barack Obama's election. It is something that will affect virtually every hotel in the United States, and there is probably a very limited window of a few months that you can do something that will have a long lasting benefit for your hotel. But you have to act very soon.

Continue reading " Hotel Lawyer Marta Fernandez: Winning the Hearts, Minds and Loyalty of Your Workforce BEFORE the Union Comes Calling " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: November 5, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hospitality Lawyer: Why you must act NOW to win the hearts, minds & loyalty of your workforce

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
6 November 2008

Hospitality Lawyer: The EFCA: Why you must act NOW to win the hearts, minds & loyalty of your workforce.

Continue reading " Hospitality Lawyer: Why you must act NOW to win the hearts, minds & loyalty of your workforce " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: August 12, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

The AH&LA and Tom Corcoran talk with Hospitality Lawyer about the 3 most pressing issues facing the industry today

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
12 August 2008

Hospitality Lawyer with the 3 most important issues facing the hospitality industry today and what you can do about them. Formed in 1910 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the American Hotel & Lodging Association is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry. For almost 100 years, AH&LA has been the leading voice for the hotel industry, providing national advocacy on Capitol Hill -- a comprehensive federal governmental affairs program covering legislative and regulatory issues for the lodging industry. (see www.ahla.com)

AH&LA has a lot on its agenda, but when I caught up with AH&LA Chairman, Tom Corcoran, he identified 3 of the most important issues to the hospitality industry and asked that we really focus our attention. Here they are . . .

Continue reading " The AH&LA and Tom Corcoran talk with Hospitality Lawyer about the 3 most pressing issues facing the industry today " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment

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Posted On: April 17, 2007 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyer: Disastrous wage and hour decision. California Supreme Court makes it a dark day for employers. Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (decided April 16, 2007)

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com 17 April 2007

Hotel Lawyer with landmark labor and employment decision from the California Supreme Court on wage and hour issues. Wage and hour claims are serious matters for employers, because they typically involve class actions with lots of current (and former employees), and the claims can cover a long period of time. They are also particularly bad for the hospitality industry because so many employees are nominally "exempt" employees--managers or assistant managers--by their titles, but not under California legal standards. (See prior postings on www.HotelLawBlog.com under the Topic of "Labor & Employment" such as New law on who is a "supervisor" can even the playing field for employers a bit.)

Continue reading " Hotel Lawyer: Disastrous wage and hour decision. California Supreme Court makes it a dark day for employers. Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (decided April 16, 2007) " »

Posted In: Labor & Employment , Outlook and Trends

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Posted On: January 3, 2007 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks for 2006

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
3 January 2007

Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks of 2006. Yes, 2006 has been a record year for many in the hospitality industry, and for the hotel lawyers at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP. As we have already given our Outlook for 2007, we thought it might be interesting to look back on our Top Pick articles from 2006 from www.HotelLawBlog.com.

The Top Picks articles are organized by the major TOPICS on the Blog. We generally tried to select just the top two or three articles for each TOPIC. It was a major struggle to decide where to make the cutoff. If you want more information on a particular TOPIC, you can go to www.HotelLawBlog.com, and search for all articles on that TOPIC. To do that, just scroll down the right hand side, and below the (free) subscription and RSS Feed buttons is the Browse search engine that enables you to sort by TOPIC (or date, or key words, etc.).

Here they are . . .

Continue reading " Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks for 2006 " »

Posted In: ADA Defense , Condo Hotels , Disasters , Hotel Management Agreements , Hotel Mixed-Use , International Hotel Investment , Labor & Employment , Land Use & Entitlements , Outlook and Trends , Workouts, Bankruptcies & Receiverships

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About the Authors

Jim Butler

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Jim Butler is recognized as one of the top hotel lawyers in the world. He devotes 100% of his practice to hospitality, representing hotel owners, developers and lenders. Jim leads the Global Hospitality Group®—a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe.
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Robert Braun

Robert Braun is a partner in JMBM's Corporate Department and a senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. Bob represents owners in both transactional and operational issues. He advises clients with respect to business formation, financing, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He has represented hotel owners in the negotiation of several hundred management agreements, as well as spa management and franchise agreements. Bob also advises hotel owners regarding telecommunications, software, internet, e-commerce, data processing and outsourcing agreements. To read Bob's articles, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com and select "Management Agreements." For more information, please contact Bob Braun at 310.785.5331 or rbraun@jmbm.com.

Marta Fernandez

Marta Fernandez is a partner in JMBM's Employment and Labor Department and a senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. As a management labor lawyer with more than 20 years of experience, Marta specializes in representing hospitality industry clients in all aspects of labor and employment including labor-management relations such as union prevention, collective bargaining for single as well as multi-employer bargaining units, neutrality agreements and defense of unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB. She defends employers in administrative and litigation claims, such as employee claims of sexual harassment and discrimination and counsels clients in preventative strategies such as executive training, arbitration enforcement, and policies and procedures. To read Marta's articles, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com and select "Labor & Employment." For more information, please contact Marta Fernandez at 310.201.3534 or at mfernandez@jmbm.com.

Catherine DeBono Holmes

Catherine DeBono Holmes is a partner in JMBM's Corporate Department and a senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. Cathy assists hotel clients with hotel management and franchise agreements, purchase and sale transactions, and condo hotel regime structuring. She has taken hotel owners through complex RFP processes involving all the major hotel brands. She has significant expertise in condo hotels and advises clients in the specific business and legal aspects of condo hotel regime structuring and documentation, including CC&Rs, HOA docs, unit management agreements, shared facilities agreements, rental management agreement programs and securities compliance matters (structuring, documentation and training). To access Cathy's articles on www.HotelLawBlog.com, click on the topics "Condo Hotels" or "Green Hotels" For more information, please contact Cathy Holmes at 310.201.3553 or cholmes@jmbm.com.

Guy Maisnik

Guy Maisnik is a partner in JMBM's Real Estate Department and a senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. Guy's deep and broad transactional practice includes complex real estate finance and venture capital transactions, including project finance, commercial finance, leveraged leasing and real estate acquisitions. He assists clients with development, leasing and disposition, loan portfolio acquisitions, loan and debt restructure, workouts and real estate exchanges. Go to www.HotelLawBlog.com for current information in these areas. For more information, please contact Guy Maisnik at 310.201.3588 or mgm@jmbm.com.

David Sudeck

David Sudeck is of Counsel in JMBM's Real Estate Department and a senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. David has significant experience in the vacation ownership arena, focusing on the formation and registration of condominiums, timeshares and fractional interest regimes. He negotiates hotel, spa and restaurant management agreements, and assists client in the development, acquisition, sale and leasing of hotels, golf courses and restaurants. For David's take on current issues in the timeshare arena, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com and click on the topic, "Timeshare." For more information, please contact David Sudeck at 310.201.3518 or dsudeck @jmbm.com.

Robert Kaplan

Robert Kaplan is a partner in JMBM's Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructurings Group and a senior member of the Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. Bob represents lenders, special servicers, hard money lenders, community banks, national banking associations, distressed debt investors, and equity investors, positioning them for the best possible outcome by acting expeditiously to preserve value and increase cash flow. His industry experience and his knowledge of the current capital markets -- where distressed assets often include complex deal structures and securitized loans -- allows him to bring creative and effective strategies to the table. When aggressive litigation is the best strategy, he is a vigorous and effective advocate for his clients. Bob represented the securitized lender in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed by the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, and in the subsequent negotiations and successful sale of the loan to a third party. The lender -- acting by and through GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation as special servicer -- was the holder of a $60 million loan secured by a Deed of Trust on the Clift Hotel. He has also served as counsel to CapMark, J.E. Robert Company, Inc., AMRESCO Management Inc. and Midland Loan Servicer in their capacity as special servicers on troubled hotel loans in CMBS pools. For more information, contact Robert Kaplan at 415.984.9673 or rkaplan@jmbm.com.

Martin Orlick

Martin Orlick is a partner in JMBM's Real Estate Department and a senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® -- a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $60 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 1,300 properties located around the globe. Marty specializes in representing hospitality industry clients in Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and defense. He has represented more than 300 businesses in ADA issues, many of them hotels and restaurants, as well as hotel mixed-use properties. Marty is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) and a frequent speaker on the ADA and other topics. To read Marty's articles, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com and select "ADA." For more information, please contact Marty Orlick at 415.984.9667 or morlick@jmbm.com.

James Abrams

James Abrams has significant experience in government affairs at the national level, the state level – including the California Legislature and scores of state agencies – and with local governments and agencies. He has authored successful ballot measures and scores of bills for his clients. Jim served as the President and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association from January 1, 1991 through December 31, 2008 and is currently an adjunct professor in the Hospitality Industry Management Program at the University of San Francisco. He is a frequent speaker and writer on all aspects of the law relating to the lodging and hospitality industries, and he is the author of the book Laws Pertaining to the California Innkeeper, which is published by the California Hotel & Lodging Association. To read Jim’s articles, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com. For more information, please contact Jim Abrams at 415.398.8080 or jabrams@jmbm.com.

Eudeen Chang

Eudeen Chang is a lawyer in the Litigation Department of JMBM's Orange County office and a member of the Global Hospitality Group®. He represents hotels in a variety of litigation matters, including ADA defense. He is well-versed in all aspects of litigation, from pre-lawsuit strategizing to trial, post-judgment collection and through appeal. He also serves as outside general counsel for a number of small and mid-sized companies and high net-worth individuals. Contact Eudeen at EChang@jmbm.com or 949.623.7232.

Victor Shum

Victor Shum is a corporate and securities partner in JMBM's Corporate Department and a member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® and Chinese Investment Group™. He has advised clients on EB-5 matters since 1999 andassists hotel developers on EB-5 financing as well as public and privatesecurities, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border issues, and otherstrategic business transactions, including real estate transactions andintellectual property and technology licensing matters. For moreinformation, contact Victor Shum at 415.984.9611 or vshum@jmbm.com.

Scott Brink

Scott Brink is a senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® anda partner in JMBM's Labor & Employment Law Department. Scott is amanagement labor lawyer with more than two decades of experiencerepresenting employers in all aspects of labor relations and employmentlaw including union prevention, collective bargaining negotiations,defense of unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB, wrongfuldischarge litigation, individual and class action employmentdiscrimination and wage-and-hour claims, sexual-harassment litigation,arbitrations, personnel policies, California wage and hour law, andemployee discipline and discharge. An experienced trial attorney, Scotthas litigated a number of high-profile and complex cases involving awide range of labor and employment law matters. For more information,contact Scott Brink at RSB@jmbm.com or 310.785.5365.

Global Hospitality Group®
1900 Avenue of the Stars
7th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Direct: (310) 201-3526
Direct Fax: (310) 712-8526
E-mail: jbutler@jmbm.com

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Ask The Hotel Lawyer ™

Ask the Hotel Lawyer™ is a quarterly column that I write for JMBM's Global Hospitality Advisor®. If you have a question you would like to submit to Ask the Hotel Lawyer™ please use the comments box below. While your question may not be of sufficient general interest for the column, I will try to respond to you individually if you leave your contact information below. Jim Butler.