LEGAL ASPECTS OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT - Essay Example

Modern players in the hospitality industry need to be aware that administering hotel includes the likelihood for the managers, supervisors and owners to be subject to several legal liabilities when it comes to handling the employees. Hence, the aim of this paper is to offer an open treatise that covers the relationship between the hotels and their employees, and based on common law contracts, tort claims, non-discrimination laws, casualness and antitrust laws. Discussion Most employee-relation laws in the hospitality industry are designed to restrict, control and even prohibit certain actions in which the firms could be willingly or unwillingly be non-complying with labor-related ethical plus social standards (Hayes & Ninemeier, 2009).

In particular, the hospitality industry has become highly sensitive to both economic factors and competitive marketplace condition, such that the workplace conditions placed on the industry are significant due to the myriad labor risks and employment-related disputes (Barth, 2006). The laws range from recruitment standards, to workplace training requirements, remunerations, to environmental and health concerns. This entails a range of issues such as labor disputes, wage and hour compliance, obligation to immigration laws, labor-force authorization regulations as well as observance of nondiscrimination practices.

In addition, there is the requirement for the employee’s welfare to be based on OSHA and environmental laws. Firstly, companies in the hospitality industry are now increasingly being held responsible for their employees out of worksite deeds. In particular, firms are now experiencing liability for accidents or injuries caused by their employees to third parties, with damages comprising loss of property, pain, physical and emotional suffering, legal fees, lost wages and medical expenses.. The hospitality firms are now required by law to avoid any unreasonable acts or roles by their employees that can present possible risks to third parties.

This became apparent in the case of Faverty vs. McDonald, whereby a hospitality industry employee was involved in a serious road accident that injured another motorist. Hence, the court ruled that McDonald was liable to the damages since it forced the worker to operate so many hours nonstop even as they were aware that the employee drove himself home thus a serious risk not just to himself but also to other people and motorists (Barth, 2006). This case set a precedent for other lawsuits in the industry, and which reveals that hospitality companies are not just required to have reasonable policies regarding their employees working hours and wages, but also have a legal duty to enforce the offsite personnel wellbeing in order not to harm other persons wellbeing.

As such, The Fair Credit Reporting Act calls for the management to have well-documented structures in which their employees will use to identify, report, and react to both real and probable hazards (Barth, 2006). They are also required to have handbooks and guidelines on safe practices, processes and controls which are particular to a given hazards, and that such guidelines attains or exceed the requirements stipulated under the Act. Moreover, the hospitality compa