Elisabeth Moriarty-Ambrozaitis Published in Hospitality Law
“Make Sure New Standards Don’t Violate Bargaining Agreement”

Elisabeth Moriarty-Ambrozaitis’ article, “Make Sure New Standards Don’t Violate Bargaining Agreement,” was published in the March 2008 issue of Hospitality Law.

In her article, Elisabeth discusses the recent New York case, Bishop v. Hotel and Allied Services Union Local 758, in which “the bellmen and doormen at a hotel brought action against a hotel alleging violations stemming from the hotel’s implementation of service standards promulgated by the American Automobile Association.” She explains that, “The bellmen and doormen contended that the hotel’s imposition of the AAA standards constituted a unilateral change of established work standards,” and that they “argued that the standards resulted in improper disciplinary sanctions and a reduction of tip income.”

In arbitration, Elisabeth notes that, “The arbitrator found that the hotel’s standards had been in fact for a number of years and that no loss of tip income was suffered as a result of the hotel’s usage of AAA standards,” which the court affirmed. Nonetheless, Elisabeth explains that “the case demonstrates that hotels should take care in instituting new standards of service to ensure that they do not conflict with any applicable collective bargaining agreement.”