Nearly $540,000 Total Financial Remedies Assessed Impacting 264 Workers
For Immediate Release
Contact Information
Cynthia Santana
Phone: 206-256-5219
Email: cynthia.santana@seattle.gov
Office of Labor Standards Marks Five Year Anniversary of Seattle Hotel Employee Protections
Nearly $540,000 Total Financial Remedies Assessed Impacting 264 Workers
Seattle, WA – (July 9, 2025) – The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announces the five-year anniversary of four laws providing specific worker protections to hotel employees and employees of businesses with certain kinds of relationships to hotels:
- Hotel Employees Safety Protections Ordinance
- Protecting Hotel Employees from Injury Ordinance
- Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance
- Hotel Employees Job Retention Ordinance
As of July 1, 2025, additional businesses are now covered under the Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance and the Hotel Employees Job Retention Ordinance, dependent on whether they are considered ‘ancillary hotel businesses’ and on how many employees they have worldwide.
Since the laws took effect on July 1, 2020, four investigations resulted in settlements with $537,551.20 total financial remedies assessed to 264 workers.
One of those settlements was with Onni Properties, LLC dba Level Hotel for alleged violations of the Protecting Hotel Employees from Injury Ordinance and the Hotel Employees Safety Protections Ordinance. Onni agreed to settle the alleged violations of the Hotel Employees Safety Protections Ordinance for a total of $17,674.65 in civil penalties to 31 aggrieved workers.
OLS alleged that Onni failed to:
- Post required signage on the back of each guest room door noting its compliance with the Hotel Employees Safety Protections Ordinance
- Deploy panic buttons to employees during its first year of operation
- Provide panic buttons to maintenance workers who were assigned to work in guest rooms
Onni agreed to post the required signage on the back of each guest room door, and to distribute panic buttons to all employees who work in or make deliveries to guest rooms. Level Hotel operates in South Lake Union with 272 guest rooms.
The most common violations among all four settlements and the most expensive for employers are failing to:
- Pay the full premium owed for hotel room cleaning assignments exceeding the square footage threshold above which employers must pay three times an employee’s regular hourly rate for the remaining time worked in the day, including by applying calculation methods that have no basis in the ordinance, or by failing to properly account for room cleanings that were strenuous due to the time elapsed since the last cleaning.
- Make the required healthcare expenditures or provide other forms of healthcare expenditures to meet requirements, particularly in cases involving staffing agencies.
“The four hotel protection ordinances are designed to protect the rights and well-being of hotel workers. With summer in full swing and tourism on the rise, it’s essential for hotel employers to understand and comply with these Seattle laws,” said OLS Director Steven Marchese. “Failure to do so can result in costly violations. OLS offers a wide range of technical assistance and resources to help both employers and workers understand their rights and responsibilities.”
- To explore the differences between and learn about the hotel laws, please visit the webpage.
- For more information about covered employers and employees, the law, and required postings, please view the Q&A and our Resources and Language Access webpages.
- Technical assistance with compliance is available here.
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