Proposition 499, “Hotel and Event Center Minimum Wage and Wage Protection Act,” will be on the November 2024 ballot of Glendale voters.
PROPOSITION 499 WAS NOT referred to the ballot by the Glendale City Council
This proposition was placed on the ballot via signatures gathered by an outside group, Worker Power, organized as a “social welfare” 501 (c)(4) organization.
What the initiative includes:
The proposed new law would do the following:
1. Mandates the City of Glendale to form and taxpayers to fund a new City Department called the “Department of Labor Standards (DOLS)” at a new cost of nearly $1 Million.
The City estimates the initial cost of opening a Department of Labor Standards within the City of Glendale to be $176,802 for software, computers, vehicles, and office supplies. The ongoing annual cost to the city to implement and provide staffing to comply with Prop 499 is estimated at $918,993. These are based on today’s costs without consideration of potential inflation in future years. Proposition 499 does not include a dedicated funding source to cover these costs. The $1 million in ongoing expenditures will increase the City's budget and may result in tax increases or reductions to existing programs and services.
2. Increases the minimum wage by $5.65 to $20 per hour and up to $40 an hour per shift for Hotel and Event Center workers.
The Initiative uses the following definition to define an event center: “a publicly or privately owned structure in the city of more than 20,00 square feet that is used for public performances, sporting events, business meetings or similar events. An event center includes, but is not limited to, concert halls, stadiums, sports arenas, racetracks, coliseums, and convention centers.”
A wage analysis performed by the City of Glendale Finance Department indicates that minimum wage increases of 3% will lead to a starting minimum wage for hotel and event center workers of $26.10 by 2035.
3. Establishes wage and working condition laws to be enforced by the City of Glendale including the following:
- Workers cannot work more than 10 hours per day without their written permission
- For hotels with fewer than 60 rooms, room attendant workers cannot clean more than 4,000 sq ft of rooms or event space in one 8-hour shift unless they are paid double time ($40 per hour) for their entire shift
- For hotels with 60 rooms or more, room attendant workers cannot clean more than 3,500 sq ft of rooms or event space in one 8-hour shift unless they are paid double time ($40 per hour) for their entire shift
- Further limits the square footage room attendant workers can clean based on the number of special attention rooms and additional-bed rooms cleaned. Special attention rooms are those where the guest is checking out or where the room was not cleaned the previous day. Additional-bed rooms are those with two or more beds including cots or roll-away beds.
- Further limits the square footage room attendant workers can clean if they work in more than one building.
- Requires all service charges or tips be paid to the employee associated with the room or service. Cash tips and service charges must be paid to the employee on the same day they are collected. Tips and service charges paid by credit card or other methods must be paid to the employees in the pay period following the date they are collected.
- Employers cannot offset the employee's wages by the amount of the tips or service charges.
4. Directs the newly created Department of Labor Standards (“DOLS”) and the new position of Director of Labor Standards to implement the provisions in the Initiative, including but not limited to:
- Receive complaints by aggrieved individuals and interested parties
- Initiate investigations of employers
- Initiate enforcement actions
- Conduct periodic studies of low-wage workers in the city for the purpose of targeted enforcement activities.
- Educate employers and employees regarding the rules and regulations contained in the Initiative.
- Calculate the annual minimum wage for hotel and event center workers based on an increase of the greater of 3% or the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Publish the new rates annually in November and educate employers on the changes which become effective on January 1 of each year.
The position of Director of Labor Standards is required to be a full-time City of Glendale employee.
5. Provisions may be waived by a collective bargaining agreement
Minimum wage and working conditions requirements will be waived if the employer enters into a bona fide collective bargaining agreement with a union representing employees.