[2011] labor dispute with SVO

According to this link, SVO just got sued by workers at Sheraton Vistana Resort who claim they were denied earning the mandatory minimum wage.

I'm guessing that those 200(?!?) workers were the ones SVO hired to perform the refurbishments at Vistana Resort that called for those massive special assessments.

If so, do you think SVO held back some of the "profits" from that assessment to account for this type of thing? If not, I wonder wherever will SVO find the money to pay these claims and defend itself in these lawsuits? Oh wait. I think I already know the answer to that last one.

-nodge

nodge said:

I'm guessing that those 200(?!?) workers were the ones SVO hired to perform the refurbishments at Vistana Resort that called for those massive special assessments.

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What makes you think they were hired for the refurbishment? Seems like that would be an odd sort of job for Starwood to hire immigrant labor. I also would be surprised if Starwood was running the refurbishment itself...doesn't it normally hire a building company (who would in turn hire the required labor)?

ocdb8r said:

What makes you think they were hired for the refurbishment? Seems like that would be an odd sort of job for Starwood to hire immigrant labor. I also would be surprised if Starwood was running the refurbishment itself...doesn't it normally hire a building company (who would in turn hire the required labor)?

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I'm guessing, but why else would Vistana Resort (and not Vistana Villages down the road) need to hire 200 Filipino temp workers?

SVO never published any information regarding how the special assessment pricing was determined or what, if any, competitive bids were collected from contractors, etc. for that work. Accordingly, it is quite possible that it served as the general contractor on this project and simply hired day laborers as needed. After all, before Starwood shut down all new construction, SVO was in the business of actually building the things in the first place.

I'm pretty sure SVO isn't going to step up to the plate and tell us much now. So we've got to piece things together from the available clues. This latest lawsuit may be one of those clues.

-nodge

If true, this lawsuit and this refurbishment data suggests that, for example, SVO charged owners $4018 to paint a 1200 square foot condo, but it paid a Filipino day laborer less than minimum wage to actually paint the thing. Nice.

nodge said:

I'm guessing, but why else would Vistana Resort (and not Vistana Villages down the road) need to hire 200 Filipino temp workers?

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Landscaping?

Maids, most likely.

And when reading the brief acticle, it states they were hired thru labor contractors. TO EXPOUND: The suits are trying to, IMO, argue that they were hired thru a shell company but directly reported to and received direction from employees of the resort. The shell company underpaid them, is now not to be found (or are not the deep pockets as Sheraton is), and the lawsuit lawyers are hoping for a big payday. Notice the type of VISA which these workers were here is WHY it is in Federal Court.

Who has the deeper pockets, Starwood management or the labor contractor that hired the workers through the work visas? That usually is the determining factor of who the class action defendant is. Labor contractor (shell company) - who made the arrangements to bring in the workers - no suit. Starwood - who they worked for - suit.

It seems like Starwood did pay a gross minimum wage. But, the complaints are that excessive deductions from the paychecks were made and paid directly to the labor contractor for workers' housing costs arranged by the labor contractor because the deductions included a profit for the labor contractor. And, the second claim is the workers' travel and other expenses from the Philippines should have been reimbursed by the beneficiary-end user, Starwood.

http://www.legafi.com/lawsuits/news/638-filipino-hotel-worker-class-actions-

... eom

Ah I see.

Instead of hiring local Orlando-area US tradesmen/workers (that a $4018 quote to paint 1200 square feet would suggest was done and then some), SVO actually hired 200 untrained/unskilled workers from the Philippines to do temp jobs for it in Orlando for cheap. But, those workers SVO hired weren't even already in Orlando. Instead, they had to fly in from the Philippines and find a place to temporarily live in Orlando to do those temp jobs . . ..

Got it.

Do you think these folks would mind laying a few new railroad tracks out west while their at it?

-nodge

http://www.jacksonlewis.com/resources.php?NewsID=3436

Part of the suit will depend on when the services were performed. The Dept of Labor changed its regulations in 2009 to require the end user to reimburse travel and other expenses. Since adoption of the new regulations, it is clear that they apply to H-2B (non-agricultural) visas.

However, in October of 2010, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (in connection with a suit about Katrina repair workers in 2005) refused to give the 2009 H-2B regulations retroactive effect because they added unexpected liabilities to the completed contract for H-2B (non-agricultural) workers.

I'd say the lawyers in Florida (11th Circuit) are seeking to extend a ruling by that 11th Circuit court that H-2A visa (agricultural) employees must be reimbursed by employers. The H-2A visa regulations have always included some reimbursement provisions. The 5th Circuit opinion noted this distinction between the regulations for H-2A and H-2B visas. ... eom

I remember watching a video about the refurbishment. It looked like it was actual SVO employees, not contract labor, that at least acted as the general contractor for the job (rather than having an outside general contractor). If SVO was the general contractor, there is no shield between the workers and SVO.

Given that this is an 11th Circuit Case, I bet the Court finds that the expenses should have been reimbursed.

The 5th Circuit is extremely commerce friendly/labor unfriendly, in my opinion.

Which brings up the next question. If SVO billed the homeowners for $4000 and then turned around and made an excessive profit on the refurb, then the HOA has an action for fraud against SVO.

In the video that I watched of the refurb, they were taking the units all the way down to the studs. They put up new sheetrock and shelving. It looked like an expensive job that they were doing.

Just my wandering mind.

elaine

glypnirsgirl said:

I remember watching a video about the refurbishment. It looked like it was actual SVO employees, not contract labor, that at least acted as the general contractor for the job (rather than having an outside general contractor). If SVO was the general contractor, there is no shield between the workers and SVO.

Given that this is an 11th Circuit Case, I bet the Court finds that the expenses should have been reimbursed.

The 5th Circuit is extremely commerce friendly/labor unfriendly, in my opinion.

Which brings up the next question. If SVO billed the homeowners for $4000 and then turned around and made an excessive profit on the refurb, then the HOA has an action for fraud against SVO.

In the video that I watched of the refurb, they were taking the units all the way down to the studs. They put up new sheetrock and shelving. It looked like an expensive job that they were doing.

Just my wandering mind.

elaine

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All that and THIS bag of chips too.

According to that link, in order for a foreigner to work in the US under an H2B visa, the employer must "prove that there are no unemployed US workers willing or able to do the work. This is established through the state's employment agency using a labor certification process. This process requires a recruitment campaign, including advertising in a local newspaper for available temporary workers."

Does anyone know how we can determine what SVO said and did to comply with this requirement?

-nodge

nodge said:

Does anyone know how we can determine what SVO said and did to comply with this requirement?

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I have it on good authority that they posted a "Need work?" flyer on the corner of Fifth and Vine in Anchorage.

They also sent a smoke signal out to the nearby Indian reservations.

LisaRex said:

I have it on good authority that they posted a "Need work?" flyer on the corner of Fifth and Vine in Anchorage.

They also sent a smoke signal out to the nearby Indian reservations.

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I’m thinking SVO saved even more money by hiring an underpaid attorney in the Philippines to advise it on US labor and visa laws.

Who needs to hire an overseas sweatshop when you can just bring those foreign sweatshop workers here (so long as the employer pays for their airfare after getting sued over it of course)?

-nodge

Starwood's 100% Rating on the "Human Rights Campaign"

Hey Gang,

I wonder if the organization giving Starwood this award bothered to see if any of the 133+ Filipino day laborers sueing SVO to recover minimum legally-required compensation for work performed in Orlando was gay or lesbian before giving it a "100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) tenth annual Corporate Equality Index."

Too bad Filipino day laborers don't have their own awards to hand out to prompt corporations like Starwood into interpreting the phrase "fundamental fairness and equality for all" in such a way that it actually includes them too.

-nodge

nodge said:

Hey Gang,

I wonder if the organization giving Starwood this award bothered to see if any of the 133+ Filipino day laborers sueing SVO to recover minimum legal compensation for work performed in Orlando was gay or lesbian before giving it a "100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) tenth annual Corporate Equality Index."

Too bad Filipino day laborers don't have their own awards to hand out to prompt corporations like Starwood into interpreting the phrase "fundamental fairness and equality for all" in such a way that it actually includes them too.

-nodge

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Weird - because I know a lot of gay and lesbian Filipinos (living here in the SF Bay Area)... however, I must admit I do not know any Filipino day laborers. Perhaps it is because the day laborers cannot afford to stay in SVO hotels - other than while they are cleaning rooms or working in the kitchens...?