Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 11, 2017, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance that will require Chicago hotels to provide certain staff with "panic buttons" and develop enhanced anti-sexual harassment policies.
In an effort to protect hotel employees from sexual harassment and other guest-misconduct, Chicago has passed the Hotel Workers Sexual Harassment Ordinance, which requires Chicago hotels to provide employees who work alone in guest rooms or bathrooms with "a panic button or notification device" which can be used to call for help if the employee "reasonably believes that an ongoing crime, sexual harassment, sexual assault or other emergency is occurring in the employee's presence."
According to the Ordinance, "a panic button or notification device" is a portable device designed to be used in emergency situations to summon hotel security or other appropriate hotel staff to the employee's location. The Ordinance does not require hotels to use a specific type of device, as long as it warns proper hotel personnel and it comes at no cost to the employee.
The Ordinance also requires hotels to develop and distribute a written policy to protect employees against sexual harassment. Specifically, the policy must: (1) encourage employees to promptly report sexual misconduct by guests; (2) describe procedures for handling the reported misconduct; (3) instruct the complaining employee to stop work and leave the dangerous area; (4) offer the employee temporary work assignments; (5) provide the employee with paid time off to make a complaint or testify as a witness; (6) inform employees of additional protections; and (7) include an anti-retaliation provision. The policy must be conspicuously posted in English, Spanish, and Polish.
The Ordinance authorizes fines of $250 – $500 for each day a violation continues, and two or more violations within any 12-month period may result in license suspension or revocation. Hotels will have until July 1, 2018 to implement "panic button" systems, but must comply with the Ordinance's other provisions (i.e. develop and distribute an updated anti-sexual harassment policy) within 60 days of the law's publication, which we can expect any day now.
Notably, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uses the General Duty Clause to enforce workplace issues against employers. OSHA can rely on industry practices to support a claim that a "recognized hazard" exists. It is possible that OSHA will use the new Ordinance and employer compliance in Chicago as a basis to require that other hotel employers should also have "panic buttons."
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