Save the Date!
The Seventh Annual Hospitality Law Conference
February 9-11, 2009
Houston, Texas
Don't miss THE Conference addressing hospitality legal, safety, and security topics!
Beyond FACTA: Merchants Need to Proactively Address Data Security Issues
by David Almeida
Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP
(312) 569-1426
 Despite the considerable media attention paid to the unprecedented levels of credit card fraud and identity theft, most of the nation’s merchants are seemingly unaware of the litany of laws, regulations, and standards designed to protect consumers’ confidential information. Due to the recent epidemic of class action lawsuits filed across the country, most merchants are by now aware of some requirements of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”). Although the statutory language of FACTA is vague, courts have interpreted it to require that all electronically printed receipts display no more than five digits of the cardholder’s account number and also mask the entire expiration date. Merchants alleged to have violated FACTA are susceptible to – without any showing of actual harm – statutory damages of between $100 and $1,000 per receipt. Although FACTA’s prohibitions do not substantially lessen the likelihood of fraud or identity theft, hundreds of businesses across the country have been forced to deal with the disruptive and costly aspects of these cases. Additionally, as a result of these lawsuits, more effective and comprehensive data security measures are largely being ignored. Thus, FACTA has the perverse effect of increasing the risk of data security breaches.
Read more
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"What's New at HospitalityLawyer.com"
Announcing Hospitality LP DataShare -
Share Important Property Data and
Minimize Your Liability
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Hospitality LP DataShare is an on-line data sharing platform enabling hospitality companies to communicate important data relating to serious property incidents involving theft and criminal activity. HLP!-DS provides hospitality companies an opportunity to analyze and compare risk activity and incident details between locations and across geographic areas, allowing them to better protect their customers, employees, assets and brands.
HLP! Case Management System (HLP!-CM) offers data entry, workflow, communication, alerts and reporting functionality for critical incidents, as well as loss prevention investigations and cases. This is a robust, yet scalable solution that is perfect whether you are managing one property, ten, or hundreds. With a link directly to the HLP!-DS platform to facilitate the data sharing process, data analysis is easy for users. As an on-line data management tool, it can be accessed at HospitalityLawyer.com.
Read more about Hospitality LP Data Share
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GAHA Library
GAHA members: Visit the GAHA Library to read Terrence Robinson's article "Uncovering the Mysteries of the Tip Wage," where he examines the basics of tips, the tip credit, and tip pooling. He writes,
"It is important to understand that an employer may mandate its tipped employees to contribute to a tip pool. This is the case despite the DOL regulation indicating that such pools must be voluntary. The DOL is not enforcing its regulation prohibiting mandatory tip pooling. However, in order for a tip pooling arrangement to be valid by the DOL’s enforcement standards (1) it must only include employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; (2) it may not require employees to contribute a greater percentage than is “customary and reasonable;” and (3) it may include only those tips that are in excess of tips used for an employee’s tip credit."
Log in now to read the full article
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Poll Question
Hotel Operators:
Do you have carbon monoxide detectors in your hotels? If so, how many?
Vote Now!
This poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole. |
The Implications of New Overseas Discrimination Laws on Multinational Corporations
Recent developments in anti-discrimination laws in Europe and Asia raise the stakes for U.S. multinationals. In an increasingly international world, U.S. employers need to take note.
 Recent developments in the employment discrimination laws of European Union (EU) member states, and the United Kingdom (UK) in particular, have highlighted the need for United States multinational corporations to be increasingly attentive to the rapidly developing labor and employment laws abroad. Such overseas legal developments will affect multinational corporations in areas including local compliance, global human resources, mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits, and even advertising.
 United States multinational corporations need to understand the potential ramifications of noncompliance with overseas labor and employment laws, including the employment discrimination laws discussed above. Employers should review their recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, harassment, and benefits policies for potential implications of such discrimination laws. Multinationals also need to be increasingly vigilant in following the developing labor and employment laws abroad, as this area of law is changing rapidly, and ignorance of the requirements is not an acceptable alternative.
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HospitalityLawyer.com Blog
Visit our Blog to read a post by Collins & Lacy shareholder and GAHA member Christian Stegmaier, "Effectively Dealing with Claims During Periods of Economic Down Turns," where he shares the following tips to operators:
- Be responsive to claims;
- Defend the claims that need defending (dubious liability; unrealistic settlement expectations);
- Settle the claims that can be settled where liability appears certain and the settlement expectations are reasonable; and
- When in doubt, call your local counsel to confer about any questions you may have about your evaluation of your claim.
Firm Highlight
Fisher & Phillips Sponsors Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, and South Carolina State Libraries
Mike Mitchell
(504) 529-3830
Fisher & Phillips LLP is one of the largest national law firms in the field of labor and employment law, with 190 attorneys in 18 offices. Our Hospitality Industry Practice Group includes attorneys who advise and represent many of the largest hotel and gaming companies in the country, along with dozens of individually owned hotels, resorts, clubs, golf courses, restaurants, spas and other members of the hospitality industry. We help hospitality industry employers prevent legal problems by auditing payroll and personnel records to assure compliance with wage and hour and other applicable laws, providing I-9 compliance and enforcement advice and representation, assisting with the processing of temporary and permanent visas including H-2b, J-1 and H-1b visas, and training managers on effective techniques for hiring and firing employees, avoiding harassment claims and remaining union-free. In addition, we draft and review employee handbooks, plan and implement union avoidance programs, handle representation elections and union contract negotiations and provide day-to-day advice and consultation to hospitality employers on every aspect of labor, employment, immigration and benefits law. |
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