Partner Todd Soloway, Chair of Pryor Cashman’s Hotel + Hospitality Group, appeared in a recent Hotel Business Magazine article discussing potential changes to labor and employment laws under the Trump administration, and the impact on hotel operators and executives.

Minimum Wage and Overtime Regulations

Although President Trump has not yet solidified his position on increasing the minimum wage – and the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour – many states and municipalities have elected to increase wages.

“Many blue states will fill the void here, and pass minimum-wage legislation. States are entitled to set a floor wage and hour protections, so in many blue states it may not matter what the federal government does,” he told HM.

Soloway advises that hotel operators “need to be keenly aware of the minimum-wage regulations in the state[s] in which they operate, as the applicable wage and overtime scheme is likely to be individually governed by the states rather than by the federal government."

Possible Changes to Joint-Employer Liability Rules

Another closely-watched issue within the hospitality industry is joint-employer liability, which can affect numerous areas of business, including work contracted to third parties, such as vendors or independent contractors.

Rolling back joint-employer liability, Soloway said, “could be a game changer in the hospitality space, where franchise relationships are commonplace. But, until that time, owners and operators should carefully evaluate their exposure.”

Soloway believes a Trump-dominated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will more than likely abandon attempts to strengthen joint-employer standards, though even simply relaxing the rules could potentially limit the exposure of a hotel brand franchisor for conduct of the hotel owner franchisee, he explained.

“The NLRB is a very political tribunal, so we should expect to see President Trump appoint board members who will be much more sympathetic to business interests and more skeptical of claims by the labor movement.”

The full Hotel Business article can be viewed here.

More About Soloway’s Practice

Todd Soloway leads Pryor Cashman’s Hotel + Hospitality and Real Estate Litigation Groups. He has been named a leading attorney by The Best Lawyers in America, and is a frequent contributor to numerous industry publications. To learn more about his work, visit here.