Hotel sex case an early test of new labor rules

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A manager at a Bourbonnais hotel stalked and sexually harassed black housekeepers and coerced them into sex, a pair of federal lawsuits allege.

But lawyers for the women don't just want the manager and the franchisee who runs the Fairfield Inn by Marriott held accountable. Citing a recent landmark ruling by the National Labor Relations Board, they say Marriott should pay up too.

Former housekeepers Tashima Little and Shernica Johnson both say they were fired after they stood up to the unnamed manager's ongoing sexual abuse. Lawsuits they filed in Urbana on Friday say that franchisee TMI Hospitality and Marriott were their "joint employers."


It's an early test of the NLRB's August ruling in an otherwise unrelated California case that upset business groups by redefining what it means to be a joint employer.

The franchise model might not last long.