Hotel illegally asked for immigration documents
Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel has been forced to pay $12,000 in fines after it illegally demanded immigration documents from a former employee.
The nationwide resort chain conceded Monday that it had unknowingly broken a federal law when it suspended Mario Guevera, who is a legal permanent resident, from work last July when he could not produce immigration documentation.
When Guevera produced a valid unrestricted social security card, the hotel refused to accept it and suspended him from his job as a busser. Even though Guevera produced a residency card the next day, he lost $60 in wages.
“Eventually he came back with a residency card, but the fact is he never should have been asked for anything at all,” said Kurt Petersen, a union organizer. “He is a permanent resident of this country, and he doesn’t have to prove that.”
The Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees local 814 union filed a complaint last August on behalf of Guevera with U.S. Department of Justice. But after it’s all said and done, Guevera will only get $60 in back pay — the rest will go to the Department of Justice, the entity that issues the fines.
Loews resorts across the country must now retrain their human resource departments on immigration documentation, as part of the settlement.
The fine should serve as a message to the entire resort industry in Santa Monica, said Tom Walsh, president of the local union chapter.
“In the wake of September 11th, discrimination against immigrants still has no place in our society,” said Walsh. “We feel that Loews assent to pay $12,000 fine and the re-training speaks volumes about their unfair treatment of immigrant workers.”
“We made an error. It was not an intentional error. It was a part of the law we were not aware of.” — — SARA HARPER Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel spokeswoman
Both the union and the Department of Justice have the right to enforce the settlement in federal court if Loews should default.
“We made an error,” said Sara Harper, a Loews spokeswoman. “It was not an intentional error. It was a part of the law we were not aware of.”
But Petersen said the hotel chain was well aware of the law and chose not to follow it.
“They spend millions in legal fees every year,” he said. “They should have known.”
Harper said the union is spreading misinformation that the hotel had singled out immigrant workers.
“We were uniformly checking residency documents,” said Harper. “We didn’t single one person out, but rather employed a uniform practice.”
Petersen disagrees. He said the hotel has a long history of treating immigrant workers differently than nationalized laborers.
“When people were recalled after 9-11 they only asked workers who were immigrants for their documents,” Petersen said. “We believe there is a pretty clear pattern of applying laws specifically to immigrants.”
Harper said the union’s claims are out of line.
“It’s certainly not the case,” she said. “We are not targeting any union sympathizers or otherwise.” Check point nabs drunk driver
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 6, 2002. Read the original PDF.