Five hotel employees who were laid off last year from the Terranea Resort have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner, alleging the hotel has failed to recall them to their former positions in violation of a recently enacted state law.

Senate Bill 93, signed into law in April, requires hotels, event centers and other hospitality businesses to offer employees who were laid off due to the COVID-19 downturn an opportunity to return to their jobs in order of seniority.

The law provides job protection to some 700,000 laid-off housekeepers, cooks, waiters and others across California.

Terranea said it has already recalled more than 600 hundred furloughed and laid off employees since reopening and will continue to do so moving forward as business levels permit.

Still waiting

Frank Santos has yet to be called back.

Santos, who filed one of the complaints, worked as a junior sous chef at the Rancho Palos Verdes resort beginning March 23, 2013, before he was laid off on May 11, 2020, due to the pandemic.

“Since April 16, 2021, the company has recalled at least three culinary employees with less seniority than me to positions as cook 2 and cook 3 in the banquet’s kitchen,” he claims. “I’ve heard from other departments that they are doing the exact same thing there.”

Terranea doesn’t want to rehire workers with seniority, Santos said, because it would have to pay them more than new employees who would come on board at a lower wage.

“It’s not only frustrating … it’s a matter of how to survive,” Santos said. “I’m 63, and I’m diabetic and have glaucoma. The medications I need are very expensive. If you don’t have good insurance, most medications aren’t covered. I don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, so I’m caught in the middle.”

Santos was forced to move in with his daughter because he could no longer afford to live in his apartment. He still receives $2,800 a month in unemployment benefits, he said, but that pales in comparison to the $5,000 he earned monthly as a junior sous chef at Terranea.

Hoping business levels improve

In a statement released Wednesday, Terranea said staffing reductions were essential due to the negative business impact caused by the global pandemic. But the resort is “working diligently to recover our business,” it said.

“We sincerely hope business levels improve to the point that we can offer additional laid-off employees the opportunity to return to our family again,” the company said. “We continue to be in close contact with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and continue to safely modify our offerings in accordance with all government mandates.”

Terranea’s workers were at the forefront of the campaign to enact SB 93. Unite Here Local 11, which is offering support to the displaced workers who are not unionized, said the resort terminated most of its employees without committing to rehire them when the hotel reopened. It also cut off their healthcare at the beginning of the pandemic.

Terranea is the first hotel in the state to be the subject of a complaint alleging an SB 93 violation, according to Unite Here.

Potential actions

California Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower declined to comment specifically on the Terranea issue, as it’s an ongoing investigation, but said if her office determines employee recall rights have been violated it can issue a civil penalty citation or file a lawsuit.

“Civil penalties of $100 per employee may be imposed on the employer for each employee whose rights are violated and the employee can be awarded compensatory liquidated damages of $500 for each day until the violation is cured,” Garcia-Brower said via email.

Interest would be awarded on all amounts due in accordance with California Civil Code section 3289(b), she said, adding that a court could issue an injunction to enforce recall rights.

State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, who co-authored SB 93, said workers across the state have the legal right to go back to their jobs as California emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am disturbed to now learn that, even as business grows, Terranea has yet to recall some of its longest-serving workers,” Durazo said in a statement.