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Is It Persecution Or Blackmail?

R S Shankar

Brij Mishra is not exactly looking forward to a fun-filled Thanksgiving this month.

That is because Mishra, the general manager of Radisson Hotel, Berkeley Marina, one of the most popular hotels in San Francisco area, is working overtime with corporate lawyers to fight a class action suit by employees. The workers allege they are made to pay when the customers check out without paying dining or room bills.

Reportedly many hotels follow Radisson's example, and the verdict in the suit can have a far reaching impact. Mishra has denied the allegations by the employees, who are demanding that the hotel's policy be changed and are asking for reimbursement.

No figures about the loss or reimbursement demand were available. He said that workers paid on their own in order to ward off disciplinary action.

Mishra, calling the accusations "absolutely false," asserted no employees are forced to pay for walkouts.

But he agreed employees face disciplinary action, ranging from written warnings to termination of their services, if they do not follow procedures, such as ensuring that meals for guests are properly charged to rooms or collecting cash each time food is served.

He believes that the suit is "extortion" because he has opposed the efforts to unionize the workers.

But the employees say the two issues should not be mixed. Why should they be made to pay when it is not their fault that a customer has walked out defaulting on payments, the workers ask.

"We don't want to pay for things that are obviously not our fault," said plaintiff Teresa Sharpe, 27, who the local media quoted as saying that on her first night on the job she had to pay the meals for three groups of customers who left without paying.

She said that according to a California Industrial Welfare Commission code, employees cannot have their pay deducted or be made to reimburse their employer for a cash shortage. The exception to the rule was a loss caused by "a dishonest or willful act or by the gross negligence of the employee."

Elizabeth Lawrence, attorney for the workers, said the hotel practice is illegal, regardless of whether the servers unionize.

"It is akin to shoplifting and making the clerk pay," she said.

Mishra says he is convinced that the management has a strong case but that he still doesn't mind sitting across the table and thrashing out the issues.

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