Can Hotels Refuse Service To Contagious Guests

28 Apr 2009

Hospitality Lawyers on Innkeepers' legal duties in dealing with Swine Influenza and other infectious diseases. In that location is a lot of great information available about what Swine Flu is, how it is acquired, and precautions people should take to avert becoming infected. But there is very trivial guidance so far telling lodging operators what the legal and liability questions that apply to their operations.

That is why I turned to Jim Abrams, a valued senior fellow member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® and former President and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association, for some assistance.

What are the legal ramifications of refusing guests who may appear ill or who have come from Mexico? What are the liabilities that an employer might confront for not grooming and protecting employees? What practical steps should hoteliers be taking to bargain with the outbreak? Here is what Jim told me.

For related articles on the threat of Swine Influenza pandemic, delight meet:

Swine flu or SARS 2? Alert from Hotel Lawyers

More than data about the Globe Wellness Organization "Phase 4" rating on the threat of a influenza pandemic

Q:Jim Abrams, does the new Swine Flu outbreak present hotel operators with any unique legal duties?

Hotel operator legal duties arising from the Swine Flu outbreak are much the aforementioned as they are with respect to other infectious diseases. Given the fact that all people and things are now truly "global," concerns involving such diseases equally Swine Flu, SARS, certain virulent strains of TB, and a possible "bird flu" pandemic, innkeepers should be clear well-nigh what their obligations to provide accommodations to people with infectious diseases. The same is truthful with respect to guests who are already in the hotel who are discovered to have an infectious disease.

Q:Tin can a hotel operator really reject admission to hotel guests who appear to have the Swine Flu?

In the U.Southward., we have continued many of the legal principles adult in medieval England, when it was unsafe for travelers to be on the road at dark, and needed the safety and comfort of an inn or a route house. In the early days, innkeepers had strict liability for failing to protect their hotel guests and their property.

And these rules and traditions were carried over to the United states of america, where, even before the advent of civil rights statutes, lodging operators have been obligated legally to provide accommodations to all who asking them unless they accept sufficient legal grounds to refuse to exercise so. This is mostly the police force in most, if not all, states. In California, for example, Penal Lawmaking Section 365 makes information technology a misdemeanor for a hotel to refuse to requite accommodations to someone unless the hotel has "just cause or excuse" to do and so.

Q: If a guest has an communicable diseases, like the flu, is that "but crusade or excuse" to reject lodging?

Interestingly, the law in California and most other jurisdictions recognizes that hoteliers take a right to decline accommodations to those who have an communicable diseases. This right derives, in function, from the underlying legal obligation that lodging operators have to protect their other guests. And not surprisingly, nether the common law, hotel operators had a similar right to evict a guest who contracts a contagious affliction that is easily spread.

In fact, California law requires innkeepers who know that a guest has a contagious or infectious disease to notify local health officials Specifically, Health and Safety Code Section 120250 provides the following: "All physicians, nurses, clergymen, attendants, owners, proprietors, managers, employees, and persons living with, or visiting any sick person, in any hotel, lodging firm . . . building, role, structure, or other place where any person is ill of any infectious, contagious, or communicable illness, shall promptly study that fact to the health officer, together with the proper noun of the person, if known, the place where he or she is confined, and the nature of the affliction, if known."

If a guest or employee appears to be very sick and the innkeeper isn't sure whether or not it is evidence of a infectious, contagious, or communicable affliction, the innkeeper should err on the side of circumspection and contact the local Department of Environmental Health or similar entity.

Q:I can imagine some serious problems if operators wrongfully or overzealously identify someone as having and infectious disease.

That is right. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act (and similar laws, such as California's Unruh Rights Act) might treat someone with an infections disease as having a "inability."

In such a example, the innkeeper must counterbalance carefully his/her obligation to accommodate the disabled individual while still fulfilling his/her obligation to protect the other guests in the hotel. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows a business to refuse to accommodate a person with a disability if to practise and then would pose a "direct threat" to the health and safety of others.

Q: Jim, given the sensitive nature of this "diagnosis" one wonders if a "Don't enquire. Don't tell" approach might be safer. Does an innkeeper have a duty to inquire?

No instance has been found which requires innkeepers to make inquiries regarding the concrete state of prospective guests. Asking for such information could possibly plant an invasion of privacy, depending on the circumstances. Additionally, a guest might exist able to assert a legitimate claim for humiliation, infliction of emotional distress, or a like harm, depending on exactly how the innkeeper handles a particular situation.

Yous are correct, Jim. This is a sensitive situation. If the innkeeper learns about a guest'south wellness, intendance must be exercised to maintain that information in conviction or the innkeeper risks incurring liability for invasion of privacy, negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress, or some like tort.

Q:Given all the publicity about the Swine Influenza deaths in United mexican states, should an innkeeper turn down guests Mexico?

The mere fact that there are many cases of Swine Influenza in Mexico doesn't mean that anybody traveling from Mexico has the illness. Therefore, no blanket exclusion should exist applied. Among other things, it could be argued that such a policy constitutes discrimination based on national origin in violation of both federal and state police force.

Q: How well-nigh an operator's obligations to protect its ain workers at the lodging facility?

Beginning, all employers should train and and so continually remind employees nigh the fundamental steps that they should take to avoid infection:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Wash your easily often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based mitt cleaners are too effective.

Try to avoid shut contact with sick people.

If you lot get sick with flu, it is recommended that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to go on from infecting them. Avert touching your optics, olfactory organ or oral cavity. Germs spread this manner. (From the California Department of Public Health.)

Q:Merely how about obligations to actually make and keep the workplace safe for employees?

Cal/OSHA enacted a "blood borne pathogen standard" a number of years ago (Title eight, California Code of Regulations, Section 5193), and this establishes some rules that will apply to situations such as this. For instance, bedding and linens that contain bodily fluids must exist treated as biohazardous materials and handled in strict accordance with the regulation. Among other things, employers are required to brand sure that training is provided with respect to the standard and to take steps if at that place is a specified incident. Employers also need to integrate this standard into their ongoing Injury and Illness Prevention Program protocols.

And, yes, employers owe a duty to provide employees with a safety identify to work. It could exist argued that failure to take steps to exclude or remove people with Swine Flu (or similar dangerous diseases) might breach that duty.

Q:What should an innkeeper exercise with ill guests? Can you simply throw them out of the hotel to avert infecting your other guests and your workers?

If a guest becomes injured or ill, whether with Swine Influenza or otherwise, the hotel has a duty to accept "reasonable steps" to assist the invitee.

In California and a number of other states, the hotel is non obligated to render medical attention; instead, the hotel is required to take reasonable steps, which is usually, and best, accomplished past contacting appropriate medical personal as soon as possible. Be sure, however, that the medical assist you summon is qualified — one hotel was held liable for having an unqualified nurse see a ill guest, and the nurse made the guest's status worse.

Q:What other steps should operators take now? Do hotels need whatsoever special equipment, cleansers, or procedures?

I would recommend that every lodging operator should contact its local Department of Environmental Health immediately and implement the steps that they recommend. These agencies are going to be the almost informed most the current and ongoing condition of the Swine Flu outbreak, and they volition provide the best information as to what hotels should be doing to minimize the risks. These agencies will be in the best position to provide information as to what personal protective equipment might be appropriate, cleaning and sanitizing measures that should be implemented, warnings that should be given, and other related topics.

Q:At that place seem to be a lot of complicated issues for hotels dealing with infectious diseases like the Swine Flu. What does an operator exercise if they haven't gone to law schoolhouse, or don't have a lawyer on staff familiar with these bug?

There are many legal risks that Swine Flu and other similar diseases present to hotel operators. As nosotros say here on www.HotelLawBlog.com, our information is intended to be advisory and alert our industry friends to of import issues, but nosotros cannot provide legal communication here. That can only exist provided by a lawyer properly licensed in the relevant jurisdiction. communicating directly with a client, getting all the relevant facts, and responding as appropriate.

This is an important area of legal exposure. So we exercise advise that innkeepers seek the communication of legal counsel in establishing the policies and procedures that they wish to implement in this sensitive area. I am personally getting a lot of calls for this kind of assistance right now, and we are happy to assist clients sort through all of this.

This information was prepared past Jim Abrams of JMBM, and you can contact him at 415-984-9679 or jabrams@jmbm.com.
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Jim%20Abrams%20blog%20photo%201-15-09%20.jpg
James Abrams is Of Counsel at JMBM and is a senior fellow member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group — a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than than $87 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than three,900 properties located around the globe. Jim has served the hospitality industry for 40 years and specializes in lodging and hospitality constabulary and in representing and advising merchandise associations and other not-profit entities. Jim has significant feel in regime affairs at the national level, the state level – including the California Legislature and scores of country agencies – and with local governments and agencies. He has authored successful ballot measures and scores of bills for his clients. Jim served as the President and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Clan from Jan 1, 1991 through December 31, 2008 and is currently an adjunct professor in the Hospitality Manufacture Management Program at the University of San Francisco. He is a frequent speaker and author on all aspects of the law relating to the lodging and hospitality industries, and he is the author of the book Laws Pertaining to the California Innkeeper, which is published by the California Hotel & Lodging Association. To read Jim's articles, go to world wide web.HotelLawBlog.com. For more information, delight contact Jim Abrams 415-984-9679 or jabrams@jmbm.com.
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This is Jim Butler, author of world wide web.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. We've done more than $87 billion of hotel transactions and accept developed innovative solutions to unlock value from troubled hotel transactions. Who's your hotel lawyer?

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