Information Item Date: August 8, 2019 To: Mayor and City Council From: Anuj Gupta, Deputy City Manager / Director of Policy Subject: Analysis of hotel housekeeper safety protections, overtime compensation and required training for human trafficking, sexual and domestic violence, and public health and safety Introduction Santa Monica has long been at the forefront of both supporting the visitor industry that is a key part of our local economy as well as promoting the wellbeing and rights of the workers in our hotels and restaurants. In October 2017, the advocacy efforts of the #MeToo movement rose to prominence, spurring national conversations around protecting workers from sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. The #MeToo movement has touched almost every industry, bringing increased pressure to policy- making bodies to adopt legislation to protect employees in various sectors from workplace harassment and assault. With over eight million visitors annually, 41 hotels and motels anchor Santa Monica’s robust tourism industry, employing about 2,100 hotel housekeepers. As the national discussion around protecting individuals from sexual assault and harassment in the workplace continues, the City of Santa Monica’s Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) spearheaded efforts to bring a hotel housekeepers’ safety policy on the local level that is in line with policies adopted in other cities such as Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Chicago. Last October, the Santa Monica City Council (Council) unanimously directed City staff to prepare a draft ordinance on hotel worker safety for consideration and adoption. Staff 1 anticipates introducing an ordinance for first reading at the August 27, 2019 meeting. In preparation for the meeting, staff has prepared this information item to frame the key issues as well as preview staff perspectives and frame the community dialogue and feedback since Council directed staff to develop the ordinance. This approach of releasing a Council Information Item in advance of Council presentation helped preview staff perspectives and frame the community dialogue and feedback when Council considered a proposal to change “labor peace” language in City leases in 2018. Background On June 13, 2018, representatives of hospitality union UNITE HERE! Local 11 (Local 11) presented to the COSW on the policies and services related to hospitality worker protection, including a set of recommendations and possible action the City of Santa Monica (City) could adopt to support their advocacy efforts. Following the meeting, COSW’s Health and Safety ad hoc committee drafted a letter based on Local 11’s recommendations and submitted the letter to the Council in September 2018 (Attachment A). At the October 23, 2018 City Council meeting, COSW Chair Sylvia Ghazarian presented the Commission’s recommendation to advocate for a policy change designed to protect hotel housekeepers from sexual harassment, abuse and assault and from overly burdensome workloads. Council voted unanimously to direct City staff to draft an ordinance incorporating each of the following four components recommended to the Council: 1. Protection for hotel housekeepers from all forms of sexual violence by providing panic buttons and other measures to enable hotel housekeepers to report misconduct and remove themselves from dangerous situations without fear of retaliation. 2. Provisions to ensure hotel housekeepers are compensated fairly when they are required to perform unreasonable workloads and protections against mandatory overtime. 3. Required training for hotel housekeepers to ensure that these employees have the knowledge and skills to both protect their own rights and safety. 4. Required education and training to identify potential instances of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual violence and public health and safety. 2 The cities of Long Beach, Oakland, Emeryville, and Seattle have adopted similar ordinances through ballot measures approved by voters. The provisions present various challenges and concerns with implementation and enforcement. Since the City would not be the first city to adopt an ordinance related to hotel workers’ safety and workloads, the City has learned from other cities’ efforts to date. Stakeholder Engagement To fully analyze each component of the COSW recommendation and Council direction, City staff engaged with various Santa Monica lodging industry stakeholders including COSW’s ad-hoc committee, Local 11, Santa Monica lodging businesses, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the Hotel Association of Los Angeles. In meetings with City staff, Local 11 emphasized the urgency to adopt local legislation that complements existing state legislation pertaining to hotel housekeepers’ safety and overtime compensation. Meanwhile, the lodging businesses and associations expressed concerns about duplicating state regulations and the industry’s ability to equitably implement a “humane workload” provision, in particular, a square footage maximum. City staff have also kept the COSW ad-hoc committee abreast of the policy development on this issue and intends to present its analysis to the full COSW at its August 14, 2019 meeting in advance of presenting the proposed ordinance to the Council. City staff has consulted with multiple cities with similar ordinances during the research process including Long Beach, Seattle, Emeryville and Oakland to learn about their experiences in implementation and enforcement of their respective ordinances. Discussion To better understand what Santa Monica lodging businesses are already providing in terms of worker safety and training requirements, workload policies and human trafficking, City staff conducted outreach to the businesses and learned the following. 3 The total number of guest rooms per hotel or motel in Santa Monica ranges from as few as 14 and up to 340 guest rooms. The square footage of guest rooms in the City ranges from 150 to 1,350 square feet, depending on whether the accommodation is a single, double or suite. Both points speak to the potential challenge of implementing a “one- size fits all” policy regarding safety and workload requirements for all lodging businesses. To define the composition of the lodging businesses, the chart below outlines the characteristics of hotel properties and the percentage representation of rooms per type of property within the City: Type of Property # of Properties % of Rooms Very Small (under 50 rooms) 17 41% Small (under 100 rooms) 8 20% Medium (101-300 rooms) 13 32% Large (over 300 rooms) 3 7% Total 41 100% Ordinance Components In response to the COSW’s recommendation and Council direction, staff will be presenting recommendations for a local ordinance to the Council on August 27, 2019 to address the following four areas: 1. Hotel housekeeper safety protections 2. Hotel housekeeper workloads and overtime compensation 3. Hotel housekeeper training on personal rights and safety 4. Hotel housekeeper education and training to identify and prevent instances of human trafficking; domestic violence; sexual violence; and public health and safety COSW ordinance component #1: Recommendation to protect hotel workers from all forms of sexual violence via panic buttons and other measures. 4 From 2008-2018, the City has identified at least 29 incidents of hotel employees who reported being the victim of sexual battery, other sex offense, aggravated assault, or other assault. According to Local 11, many housekeepers are women who generally work by themselves in guest rooms and vulnerable to crimes and other threatening behavior, including sexual assault. Requiring hoteliers to provide panic buttons enables hotel housekeepers to protect their safety as well as report or alter threatening conduct or other emergencies. Local 11 is proposing to require all Santa Monica hoteliers to provide an operational panic button to each hotel worker and employ or contract with at least one on-site security guard or other personnel who will be responsible for providing immediate on-scene assistance when a device is activated. A hotel worker may cease work, leave the immediate area and may not be disciplined for their actions under these circumstances. Based on tests with different types of personal safety devices such as noisemakers or safety whistles, Local 11 believes panic buttons are the most effective type of safety device, and that other personal safety devices are not sufficient as they have limited noise projection, prolonging emergency response times. Santa Monica hoteliers have voiced that hotel staff and guest safety is a top priority and according to the hoteliers, worker safety protocol is generally unique to each hotel based on the property configuration, staffing composition and other factors. Based on information collected by City staff, 100 percent of those lodging businesses who responded will have panic buttons installed and sexual harassment training in place by 2020. In September 2018, the American Hotel & Lodging Association announced the 5- Star Promise – “a pledge to provide hotel employees across the U.S. with employee safety devices and commit to enhanced policies, trainings and resources that together are aimed at enhancing hotel safety, including preventing and responding to sexual harassment and assault” – with major hotels brands. By brand affiliation, 25 percent of Santa Monica hotels are part of the 5-Star Promise. Hoteliers utilize Hospitality Technology Next Generation’s Staff Alert Device Buyer’s Guide