It is no secret by now that employers, including those in the hotel- and hospitality-related industry, continue to be hit with the legal tsunami that are class action lawsuits. Hotel employers are especially vulnerable, with limited defenses, when it comes to wage and hour lawsuits, where a large class of employees allege that their employer failed to pay minimum wage or overtime compensation. That vulnerability has been increased recently by the current economic climate, where employers look for ways to cut certain employee-related costs, and by advances in technology (e.g., the use of Blackberries) that make it more difficult to monitor working hours and activities.

One way to reduce potential exposure for alleged wage and hour violations is to review management’s internal policies and practices to determine whether there are any compliance issues that should and can be addressed before a lawsuit is filed, or before a government agency commences an audit. Another option has been re-affirmed by a federal district court within the Second Circuit, which permitted an employer to obtain a written waiver prohibiting its employees from pursuing employment-related claims on a class-wide basis in court. Such a “class action ...