For Immediate Release
June 29, 2018
Contact: Cynthia Santana, Communications Manager, 206-256-5219, cynthia.santana@seattle.gov
Office of Labor Standards Final Administrative Rules for Seattle’s Hotel Employees Health and Safety Initiative go into effect July 1, 2018
Proposed rule on inflation measurement remains open for notice and comment through July 5, 2018
Seattle – (June 29, 2018) – The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) has issued its final administrative rules for Seattle’s Hotel Employees Health and Safety (HEHS) Initiative. The rules will go into effect on Sunday, July 1, 2018.
This voter-passed initiative took effect November 2016 and provides employees with protections against violence, sexual harassment, and workplace injury, and promotes access to health care and job stability. The HEHS Initiative covers hotels with 60 or more guest rooms, with greater requirements for those with 100 or more guest rooms.
The publication of the rules is the culmination of a robust stakeholder process that included representatives of the hotel industry, worker advocates, and hotel workers. Stakeholders and OLS staff spent significant time and effort on the many complex issues associated with this groundbreaking ordinance.
The final administrative rules for HEHS provide the framework for the implementation of the HEHS Initiative. The administrative rules clarify many issues including:
- Scope of the right to paid time to make a police statement or consult with an advisor after reporting an act of violence by a hotel guest;
- Requirements regarding cleaning limitations and premium pay for employees providing housekeeping services;
- Requirements on, and exceptions to, payment of additional compensation for health insurance costs; and
- Content of the employee rights notice.
The final administrative rules do not address the inflation measurement that is needed in the calculation for the additional compensation for medical care as set forth in Seattle Municipal Code 14.25.120. OLS has published an additional proposed rule on that issue, and the two-week public comment period on the proposal will close on July 5, 2018, with an expected effective date of July 12, 2018.
For more information on the HEHS Initiative please visit http://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards.
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