Private Labor Arbitration Award, January 2010

On January 5, 2010, Partner Matt Wakefield and Senior Counsel Katherine Hren received a favorable arbitration award on behalf of a boutique hotel in Beverly Hills. The hotel discharged a 30-year housekeeping employee after she refused to perform her job duties for approximately two hours. The union representing the employee grieved the discharge, arguing that the employee was functioning as a shop steward during the time in question. The hotel argued that four months earlier the employee had been disciplined for similar misconduct. On the day in question, the employee was initially given the opportunity to return to work without consequences. When she continued to refuse, the hotel had no choice but to discharge her employment. Given these circumstances, the arbitrator agreed with the hotel and found that the employee “was guilty of gross insubordination for refusing to obey repeated directives to return to work.”