Michael Kun, a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment practice, in the Los Angeles office, was quoted in an article titled "Hospitality Biz May Be Next Frontier In Calif. Seating Fight." (Read the full version — subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

The California Supreme Court is poised to clarify the reach of a state law requiring employers to provide suitable seating, a ruling that could potentially force hotels and restaurants — which have largely avoided the issue thus far — to modify their policies for a broad range of employees from hostesses to prep cooks, attorneys say. ...

"To date, we have not seen many in the hospitality area, which does not mean they're not going to come. And the California Supreme Court's clarifications of the suitability seating law could well lead to a great many," said Michael S. Kun, a Los Angeles labor attorney and co-chair of Epstein Becker Green's wage-and-hour practice.

For example, while it's accepted industry practice to see hosts or hostesses standing, it's not too difficult to imagine them doing to same job from a seat or even a high stool, Kun noted. ...

"With cooks for instance, it's certainly possible that while a prep cook may contend that they want a seat, or are entitled to a seat, it may be the case that there will be some OSHA issues that make it unreasonable to provide a seat because it raises some safety concerns ... there may also be local fire safety ordinances," Kun said. ...

"In the hospitality context, if there are jobs that somebody could perform from a seated position, in a wheelchair for instance, will employees claim that these jobs can be performed from a seat?" Kun said. ...

Given the potential effects on the hospitality world, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the California Supreme Court will specifically make references to restaurants and hotels in its explanation, according to Kun.

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.