http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_4856550

Woodfin Suites housekeepers face layoffs
Emeryville hotel wants to avoid immigration raid
By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated:12/17/2006 08:14:38 AM PST


In the wake of widespread immigration raids last week, several housekeepers at the Woodfin Suites hotel in Emeryville and other Woodfin locations around the country were given two weeks' notice Friday because they have not proved they are allowed to legally work in the United States.
Hotel workers have picketed Woodfin Suites on Shellmound Street several times in recent months because they say the company is not complying with Measure C, a living wage law approved by voters in November 2005 that targets Emeryville's hospitality industry.

Nikki Bas, associate director of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, or EBASE, said Woodfin management is retaliating against its employees by demanding they provide work documentation and resolve discrepancies in their Social Security numbers reported to the company by the Social Security Administration. EBASE drafted the living wage law and has been helping the workers organize for better working conditions.

Bas said management has threatened to fire workers who refuse to comply with that demand, but James Batt, Woodfin's president and chief operating officer, said the company is legally required to respond to notification by the Social Security Administration that some Social Security numbers provided by workers did not match government records.

He said the company does not want to fire its workers, and hotel management had given them ample opportunity and time off to resolve the discrepancies, but several had failed to do so.

EBASE previously filed a lawsuit against the company for failing to comply with the wage and benefits requirements of the new living wage law. It sought a temporary injunction to prevent the company from firing workers until the case is resolved.

At a hearing Nov. 30, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw acknowledged Woodfin is in a tough position because the company can be in serious trouble if it hires illegal workers.

At the same time, the judge noted that the timing of Woodfin's request for documentation ... "may have a chilling effect on the (workers) and their First Amendment rights." He denied the injunction, but required that Woodfin give 14 days notice to any workers it intends to fire because their Social Security numbers don't match.

Batt said the two-week termination letters distributed to about 20 Emeryville workers Friday are a final attempt to have them resolve problems reported with their Social Security numbers. He said the very public immigration raids and arrests that made headlines last week of business owners suspected of hiring illegal workers in San Diego were something he'd rather not experience.

He also said the company is being painted as bad when in fact it has been doing all it can to help employees straighten out their records so they can stay on the job.

"The last thing we want to do is lose these good employees, but we can't keep employing them (if they are not in the country legally). I've gotten legal advice, we've asked the workers to get it squared away, and we've given them two weeks' pay to get organized. Beyond that, we're stuck."

Although the new hotel living-wage law took effect a year ago, the city has no administrative policies in place to monitor compliance or receive worker complaints. After several months, Emeryville City Attorney Michael Biddle requested wage records from the city's three hotels to determine whether they had adhered to the requirements of Measure C. But figuring out whether they did or did not isn't so easy and he has since requested additional documentation.

Patrick O'Keeffe, Emeryville's acting city manager, said early last week that new regulations for Measure C compliance will be presented to the City Council this month, and in January annual operating permits for each hotel will return to the council for approval.

The law states that hotel workers must be offered health benefits or paid a higher hourly wage if they decline the benefits. The law places limits on the amount of space workers are required to clean during a shift, and those required to exceed those limits are supposed to be paid time and a half for the extra work.

Bas said the city's two other hotels have adjusted pay and work conditions to comply with the new law, but Woodfin, where the suites are much larger than an average hotel room, remains a problem.

Marcela Melquiadez, 29, a single mother of three, has worked full time at the Woodfin for two years. To help make ends meet, her father moved in and shares the rent for her apartment in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood. She said the hotel does offer health benefits, but it would cost $112 a month just for her and more if the children were covered.

Bas said Woodfin workers should have received time and a half for cleaning more space and estimates Melquiadez is owed $10,500 in back wages.


Contact staff writer Cecily Burt at cburt@angnewspapers.com.