Laid-off Hotel Employees Demand to be Re-hired

Angelo Carillo was one among the hundreds of employees who were laid off by their former employer, Columbia, Md., hotel.  The Hotel belonged to David Costello, IMH Columbia LLC received more than $2 million as part of the federal pandemic fund to help with the payroll, however, according to the workers, Costello is showing no intention of hiring the employees. This lead the employees to question what Costello did with the Paycheck Protection Program if not re-hiring the employees. 

These workers who were initially fighting for unemployment benefits are now fighting t get re-hired and resume their life post-pandemic. The protests which began as a request to re-hire the employees quickly evolved into petitions being sent to the governor to boycott the revamped Sheraton Hotel, now known as Merriweather Lakehouse. The problem arises because Maryland unlike many other states in the United States does not have the "right to return" law. According to this law, employers have to consider offering laid-off workers their jobs back when they make hiring decisions. This law was enacted during the past year to protect workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. States like California, Connecticut, and Baltimore have already implemented the "right to return" law. Members of the Unite Here Local 7 who represent the Sheraton employees said that they were planning on pushing for statewide implementation of the "right to return" law in Maryland after they saw the tremendous lobbying done by some hotel employers in Baltimore. 

Source: The Washington Post