Washington, D.C., June 21, 2010 – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has learned that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is planning an initiative that specifically targets every hotel, motel and resort in the United States for audits by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.
Without contacting AH&LA or providing any justification, DOL has labeled the lodging industry as a “high-risk industry” where violations of federal wage and hour laws are most likely to occur. The department has chosen to consider employees in the lodging industry as “the most vulnerable workers” in the country. As a result, you will be subject to a DOL audit, covering all of your employees.
Despite the lack of contact by DOL, AH&LA learned of the department’s plans and is currently seeking more information from DOL on why the actions are being taken and attempting to further inform the department about the true nature of our industry and its practices.
We need you to contact your members of Congress today. They need to hear from as many hoteliers as possible that these actions by the Department of Labor are not justified and that they need to contact the department on your behalf to insist that they be stopped.
It only takes two minutes to make a difference.
Hoteliers can contact their House and Senate lawmakers by taking action through AH&LA’s hotelLOBBY grassroots Website. You can quickly send your legislators a short message stating your strong opposition to DOL’s actions and asking them to help.
The hotelLOBBY Website also gives you additional tools and ideas to become involved in this important fight. Contacting your Senators can be the first step. Other ideas include writing a letter-to-the-editor for your local newspaper, or personally meeting with your lawmakers when they are back in your state.
Please note that the hotelLOBBY Website is for AH&LA members only. While we welcome the assistance of as many people as possible, individuals must have their own personal AH&LA ID number to log into the hotelLOBBY grassroots site. If you know someone who would like to take action who does not have a AH&LA ID number, please have them contact AH&LA’s Jon Simons at (202) 289-3125 or [email protected].
