| Update Applicable to: | Effective Date |
| All Employers That Operate a Hotel | May 3, 2025 |
What happened?
On November 4, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed the Safe Hotels Act (Int. No. 991-C) into law, which will take effect on May 3, 2025.
Quick Summary:
- The Safe Hotels Act enhances the safety and well-being of hotel employees and guests in New York City.
- This Act imposes several new requirements on hotel owners and operators, including requiring hotels to obtain licensure, implement stronger safety measures like panic buttons, implement stronger safety measures like panic buttons, cleanliness, and direct employment standards, and for larger hotels, directly employ core staff instead of using subcontractors.
What are the details?
The Safe Hotels Act introduces requirements to enhance the safety and well-being of hotel employees and guests.
- Hotel operators, defined as persons who own, lease, or manage a hotel and control its day-to-day operations, must now obtain a license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to operate legally.
- It is unlawful to operate a hotel without this license, which is valid for 2 years and costs $350.
Key requirements of the Act include:
- Licensing: To operate legally:
- hotels must obtain a license by demonstrating compliance with the Act’s requirements for staffing, safety, cleanliness, and direct employment standards.
- must conspicuously display the license in public areas of the hotel.
- Safety Standards: Hotels must implement stronger safety measures by providing panic buttons to employees who enter occupied guest rooms, enabling them to alert on-site security or other appropriate personnel in case of danger, and providing human trafficking training to all core employees.
- Staffing Requirements: Hotels with over one hundred rooms are required to directly employ core staff, including front desk and housekeeping personnel, instead of using contractors or staffing agencies, with exceptions for pre-existing staffing contracts and cases where a single hotel operator oversees all core employee operations.
- Unionized Hotels: Hotels with collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that incorporate the Act’s requirements are exempt from demonstrating compliance for the duration of the agreement or 10 years, whichever is longer.
- Operational Continuity: Licensed hotel operators can continue operating while their renewal application is pending. They must be given 30 days’ notice and an opportunity to address any issues before their license can be revoked.
Business Considerations
- Employers should obtain and conspicuously display a valid hotel license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to operate legally.
- Employers should implement the safety measures mandated by the law but consider enhancing them if deemed appropriate.
- Employers with a hotel of over one hundred rooms should begin to employ core staff, such as front desk and housekeeping personnel. They should also prepare to budget the additional cost and communicate this change with payroll, HR, and hiring personnel.
Source References
Resources
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