Hotels required to provide workers with personal security devices under new law signed by Garcetti

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday signed into law an ordinance requiring hotels to provide workers with personal-security devices to protect them from violent or threatening guests, while also extending minimum wage requirements to smaller hotels.

The measure was approved last month by the City Council. The measure began with a petition drive, which gave the council the option of either adopting it outright or putting it before voters. The council opted to adopt it outright.

"Hotel workers are on the front lines of our economic recovery and their work uplifts Los Angeles and is part of what makes this city an amazing place to visit," Garcetti said in a statement. "I am proud to sign this ordinance into law -- allowing mothers to spend more time with their children and to feel safe when walking into their place of work. Their hard work and perseverance inspires me and they deserve a fair work environment."

The "Workplace Security, Workload, Wage and Retention Measures for Hotel Workers" requires hotels to supply their workers with personal security "panic button" devices. Hotels with more than 45 rooms will also have to pay wage premiums when giving workloads that exceed specified limits and to get written consent from workers who work more than 10 hours a day. Exemptions will be given to hotels that demonstrate economic hardship.

The ordinance also extends the current minimum wage requirements that apply to hotels with 150 or more rooms to hotels with 60 rooms or more.

Similar hotel worker protections were previously approved in cities such as Long Beach, West Hollywood and Santa Monica.