Hospitality associations plan to sue Seattle over new rights for hotel workers. The city's voters approved Initiative 124 last month and according to the Seattle Times, the groups object to a provision "requiring hotels to keep lists of guests whom workers accuse of sexual assault or harassment."
Initiative 24 "concerns health, safety, and labor standards for Seattle hotel employees," according to the petition that was filed with the city clerk back in May. The petition explains the passing of this initiative would require certain-sized hotel employers to further protect employees against assault, sexual harassment, and injury.
[READMORE]Intiative 24[/READMORE]
"The hotel is required to place the guest's name on a list, whether or not the employee is willing to sign a sworn statement, make a police report or offer any supporting evidence," says a complaint filed Monday in King County Superior Court.
The Times adds these lists must be shared wth the city, and if the guests return, they also must be shared with other hotel workers. "When the accusing worker signs a statement, the accused guests must be denied lodging for three years 'without being told why,' says the lawsuit, which seeks a permanent injunction to prevent Seattle from enacting I-124."
The lodging groups, however, say the I-124 violated Seattle law by "combining unrelated subjects into one ballot measure. It says the state, not the city, regulates workplace safety. And it says the retaliation provision is contrary to federal and state law."
This isn't the first time business groups have sued the city of Seattle, especially recently. The Seattle Times adds that in May the U.S. Supreme Court said it refused to listen to a challenge to the city's $15-an-hour ordinance. And in August, a federal judge tossed out a "lawsuit against Seattle's new ordinance giving Uber and taxi drivers the ability to unionize, calling the suit premature."
The lawsuit says the I-124 list violates guests' right to privacy and due process.
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