Regulatory and Legal Affairs

🚧 Announced on July 17, the UK Government's new Employment Rights Bill, to be introduced within the first 100 days of the new parliament, will ban zero-hour contracts and 'fire and rehire' practices, while ensuring workers receive contracts reflecting regular working hours. All workers to have 'reasonable notice' of shift changes with compensation for cancelled shifts. The bill also mandates sick pay, parental leave, and protection from unfair dismissal from day one, abolishing the lower earnings limit on Statutory Sick Pay and its three-day waiting period. Further protections for new mothers include unlawful dismissal prevention for six months post-return to work, and a 'genuine living wage' is planned. Additionally, the bill will streamline union recognition and access. Concurrently, reforms to the Apprenticeship Levy and improvements to the planning system aim to boost hospitality sector growth.

📌 AHLA secured a policy victory last month in Hawaii, a key U.S. tourist destination, to ensure fair treatment for hotels. The new law SB 2919, enacted in May, allows local officials to regulate short-term rentals like hotels and potentially phase them out. This came after wildfires in Maui last summer destroyed over 2,200 structures with damages exceeding $5 billion. The law had broad support, including from Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance and two labor unions. AHLA continues to oppose state-level policies favoring short-term rentals, achieving victories in Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Utah against various proposals and taxes that could have disadvantaged hotels.

🍻 Eluned Morgan, Wales’s Health Secretary, proposes banning free sugary drink refills in hospitality businesses to encourage healthier living. Over 60% of Wales' population is obese or overweight. Other plans include ending promotions like buy-one-get-one-free on unhealthy foods. Consultation responses are due by September 23, 2024. Draft regulations may be laid before the Senedd in 2024, with a 12-month transition period, aiming for enforcement by end of 2025. Non-complying businesses could face £2,500 fines.

🚨 The Human Trafficking Awareness Training Recognition Act, introduced in Washington by Reps. Valadao and Carter, mandates DHS to certify businesses training employees to combat human trafficking. Since 2019, the No Room for Trafficking (NRFT) initiative enabled 1.6 million training sessions. AHLA Foundation's Survivor Fund, created in 2022, raised $3.7 million, with a match up to $5 million, aiming for a $10 million total.

🚿 Starting January 1, 2025, New York State mandates hotels with over 50 rooms to stop providing small plastic toiletry bottles under 12 ounces; smaller hotels have until 2026. Initial violations incur a $250 fine, with subsequent breaches at $500, benefiting the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. The bill, introduced in 2019, was signed into law in 2021 by Governor Kathy Hochul but delayed implementation. New York follows California's 2019 law, with Washington and Illinois considering similar legislation. Marriott reported 95% compliance with switching to larger toiletry bottles in 2023, while Holiday Inn planned to ditch mini toiletries by 2021 and Disney aimed for an 80% plastic reduction.

🥥 The Coconut Tree, claiming to be the 'largest Sri Lankan restaurant group outside Sri Lanka', underwent a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) process overseen by Forvis Mazars, approved on 13 June, after facing financial challenges, including closing its Cardiff location in March. Founded in 2016, it operates eight UK restaurants. In January 2023, it sought a £1m equity-based crowdfund for expansion, targeting the London market, boasting a £10m pre-money valuation.

🌏 HBX Group released its Sustainability Report, revealing over 75 ESG-related actions and a new work and result reporting framework. The group joined the UN Global Compact and began a three-year plan to align with the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), analyzing the impact of 4,000+ KPIs. Its Sustainable Hotels Programme includes 40,000 certified properties, with a 900% increase in hotels adopting no-single-use plastics policies. HBX Group's employee volunteer hours increased by 40%, and their reforestation efforts resulted in 12,000+ trees planted. They've been Carbon Neutral certified for six years by Carbon Footprint LTD.

💸 One Fair Wage's initiative to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $15 and eliminate the tip credit failed to secure enough signatures for the November ballot. The constitutional amendment proposed a minimum wage increase to $12.75 by January 1, 2025, and $15 by January 1, 2026. Tip credit, which allows payment below the minimum wage to tipped workers, is a divisive issue. As of 2024, seven states and cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C., have abolished it. A survey revealed 91% of tipped workers in Ohio are satisfied with the current system.