Two Orlando resorts are being sued by workers who were contracted through a third party to work at the hotel. That third party is not able to make payroll and now the workers are looking to the hotel for their paychecks. One of the hotels is the Swan & Dolphin Resort at Walt Disney World.
I’ve worked with some people who were employed by VR Services. For the most part, very nice people who are just trying to get ahead in life. Just like all of us.
“The hotel is obviously sympathetic to them, but it is true they’re not employees of the hotel”
I think that this quote from the Swan & Dolphin Resort spokesperson is deliberately ignoring the benefit the workers of VR Services provided the hotel. The S&D benefited from the employee’s hours of labor and now they have a responsibility to make sure they’re paid for that labor. If the S&D contracted with a company that couldn’t fulfill the contract, that’s not the worker’s fault.
This whole situation is one reason I am not in favor of Disney using outside firms to perform duties like valet, housekeeping, and custodial work. Just the mere act of outsourcing shows the company places a lesser value on those roles, even though they’re all part of the ‘Disney Show’. The hotels are basically abandoning their responsibility for that part of the property but receiving all the benefits. They should not be allowed to do that and hopefully the courts will agree.
Are those jobs only outsourced due to the Swan & Dolphin not being a “real” Disney property? I think that it’d be a real great gesture if Disney stepped up and paid the people (it’s not like Disney can’t afford it). At the same time, maybe Disney will need to not have them work until the paycheck situation can be settled, since it isn’t necessarily fair for Disney to always have to pay the paychecks of these workers if that wasn’t originally the plan, but at the same time, it isn’t fair to have the workers continue working without getting the pay they should from who they should.
While I fell terrible for these workers there is no way Disney or Starwood Hotel Group (the hotel owner)should have to pay anyone. It sounds like Starwood upheld their end by paying their vendor so why should they be forced to pay again much less Disney who is little more than a land lord in this case.
I agree with you. As long as the hotel paid the vendor then they have completed all of their legal and moral obligations and it is up to the vendor to pay their employees. This is one of the main reason for outsourcing in the first place.
Seriously? Disney hired a company to perform a service. The company performed the service, and Disney paid the company.
By your logic, if you buy groceries, but the grocery store doesn’t pay their suppliers, you should pay their suppliers. That just doesn’t make sense.
You are right. The Starwood Group made the payment to the company that pays the workers. This is one of those situations where it comes back to bite you in the ….
Let’s trim costs, boost the bottom line, etc etc Now you have a lawsuit and a reason for me never to stay there.
While I sympathize with the affected workers, I agree with what Josh said. The work has already been compensated once. The hotels should not have to pay again. It would be a goodwill gesture, yes, but the precedent would be horrible.
Disney owes nothing in this case.
Example:
Mickey pays Goofy to clean hotels.
Goofy hires Donald to do the work.
Donald does the work he agreed to do.
Goofy spends all the money and does not pay Donald.
Now Donald wants Mickey to pay him for the work, even though Mickey has alread paid Goofy for the same work.
I feel bad for donald, but next time Donald should not work for such a Goofy company.
John,
Say you bought a vehicle from “Charlie’s Ford Dealership” down the street. And the delership decided it did not want to remit payment to Ford for the now sold vehicle. Would it be fair for Ford Motors to take your vehicle back from you?
No, Ford would have to go after the Dealer, not you. The Swan and Dolphin have no legal or moral responsibility in this matter. This lawsuit will go nowhere.
I also feel bad for these workers. In my opinion Disney has already paid for the work. The federal government should be making sure the employees are paid out of the assets they seized.
In general I think Disney should be responsible for using due diligence to confirm the subcontractor they are using and that they were utilizing appropriate processes that Disney would want to be affiliated with.
Just to be clear, it wasn’t Disney that hired the employees via a subcontractor it was the Swan & Dolphin hotel, which I believe is owned by Starwood.
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