Illegal activities of Southern Bosses during the weeks from Friday, January 9, to Friday, January 15
Florida Discriminators
Hare Krishna Lakeland, LLC, operating as a Motel 6 in Lakeland, Florida, resolved a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the charge filed with the agency, the Lakeland Motel 6 discriminated against an employee oN the basis of disability, ultimately forcing her to quit her job in approximately July 2023.
“The hotel industry often faces persistent labor shortages,” said EEOC Miami District Director Evangeline Hawthorne. “Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities can effectively fill needed jobs with or without reasonable accommodations.”
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of disability and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations, unless doing so would present an undue hardship.
As part of the three-year conciliation agreement resolving the charge, Motel 6 agreed to pay the employee $50,000 in back pay and compensatory damages. The company also agreed to implement policies to comply with the ADA, including specific provisions requiring the company to respond to requests for reasonable accommodations in a timely manner. In addition, the employer will provide annual ADA training to all management and non-management staff and report to the EEOC on accommodation requests for three years. Further, Motel 6 will post a notice about equal employment opportunity rights, which encourages employees to report allegations of discrimination.
D.C. Thieves
Registered nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center – unionized with National Nurses United (NNU) – in Washington, D.C. held a protest on Thursday, Jan. 15, to announce they have formally filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of the Attorney General (OAG) regarding systemic wage and hour violations.
In the complaint, the nurses allege that management falsified pay records, paid nurses the incorrect amount, failed to pay nurses on the correct date, and has let missed paychecks go unpaid for weeks. Additionally, the complaint outlines how management has created a hospital-wide culture that encourages and pressures staff to perform work “off the clock.”
“A week before Christmas [on pay day] I did not receive a paycheck at all,” said Linda Spring, a registered nurse in the operating room. “It shouldn’t be our job to have to demand that we get paid correctly. We should be paid correctly because it is the hospital’s legal obligation to pay us correctly. We give our lives to this hospital, to our patients, and we should be compensated appropriately.”
“Discovering that management has been altering our timecards to reflect breaks we never took has completely undermined my trust in this hospital,” said Ashley Marshall, a registered nurse in the emergency department. “Wages were deducted from my paycheck without my knowledge, and I’m now forced to review every pay stub to ensure nothing else has been altered. Despite its recent Magnet designation, MedStar prioritizes financial considerations over its nurses, the very ones who are providing care to our community.
NNU/NNOC represents more than 2,200 registered nurses at Medstar Washington Hospital Center.