What Happened?

As a reminder for Los Angeles covered hotel employers (generally hotels with 60+ guest rooms within City limits), the City’s Hotel Worker Training Ordinance requires paid, City‑certified Public Housekeeping Training Organization (PHTO) for Room Attendants starting December 1, 2025.

Overview

• Who is covered: “Hotel Employers” (owners/operators/contractors directing hotel workers) and Room Attendants (primary duty: cleaning guest rooms).

• Delivery: Live, interactive training by a certified PHTO with multilingual, culturally competent instructors.

• Topics: Worker rights/responsibilities, responding to domestic violence and violent/threatening conduct, disease‑prevention cleaning techniques, identifying/avoiding pest infestations, and responding to other potential criminal activity.

• Employer obligations:

• Pay training costs and wages for training hours.
• Ensure completion and maintain records using the City’s compliance form.
• PHTO issues a certificate valid for 5 years and reports completions to OWS within 5 days.
• 120‑day rule: Do not employ a Room Attendant beyond 120 days without a valid certificate; retrain within 120 days of certificate expiration.
• Provide written notice of rights in English, Spanish, and any language spoken by ≥10% of your workforce.

Why this matters: The training requirement is mandatory and tied to employment eligibility for Room Attendants. Non‑compliance risks enforcement, operational disruption, and liability (including joint liability with contractors).

Key Risks for Employers

• Scheduling bottlenecks if you delay contracting with certified PHTOs (limited provider capacity).
• Employment interruptions if workers lack a valid certificate past 120 days.
• Administrative exposure for missing City reporting (PHTO) or employer compliance forms.
• Notice violations if multilingual worker notices are not issued timely.
• Misalignment with related requirements (panic buttons/workload limits under the Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance).

For additional details:

• Los Angeles – Hotel Worker Ordinances
• Los Angeles Ordinance No. 188610

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