I Stand With Laid-Off Hotel Figueroa Workers
Hotel Figueroa, BGO (Owner), Highgate (Principal Operator), Botanical/1978 Hospitality (Food & Beverage Operator)
This Action Network alert is intended to protect the jobs of more than a hundred workers at the Hotel Figueroa who were laid off.
The hotel has been the subject of controversy since, as reported in the LA Times, the hotel’s former food and beverage operator, Noble 33, announced in late 2023 that it would lay off its employees. By Sunday, February 11, 2024, it had laid off all of its more than one hundred non-management employees.
Workers are now alleging that the Hotel Figueroa’s owner and its new operator have violated a city ordinance meant to protect workers’ jobs when there are changes in management by failing to retain them when a new operator took over.
Add your name to the letter to the Hotel Figueroa calling on the hotel to follow the law and offer the displaced workers the opportunity to return to their jobs!
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To:
Hotel Figueroa, BGO (Owner), Highgate (Principal Operator), Botanical/1978 Hospitality (Food & Beverage Operator)
From:
[Your Name]
We are deeply concerned that your company has not respected the rights of workers.
Hospitality workers are the cornerstone of our region’s largest industry. They are the reason guests return to Los Angeles, and why tourism thrives. They are our neighbors and an integral part of our community.
As you know, the Hotel Figueroa recently carried out a mass layoff of workers in its food and beverage operations. Just days later, some service had resumed with a new operator, but without the veteran workers who had kept the restaurants and bar running. These workers are now unemployed and struggling to provide for their families.
The failure of the owner and new operator to retain the laid-off workers is an apparent violation of the Los Angeles Hotel Worker Retention Ordinance. The law requires new owners or operators to retain the site’s employees following a change in ownership or management for a transitional period. This requirement ensures employment stability for members of our community and helps to alleviate the demands for social services for newly-unemployed workers.
We consider the companies’ failure to retain the workers to be deeply problematic and an affront to the entire community. We call on you to immediately offer to return the workers to their employment at the hotel and compensate them for time missed.