Fifteen workers punished for possible error by one

Some time after the end of the July 11 night shift, a waitress came across a stack of napkins stained with wine and reported their condition to David Rojas, one of the hotel’s banquet managers. Management’s response was to “write up” every waiter, except for the one who came across the soiled napkins. The write-ups were to remain in the workers’ personnel files until someone came forward to “confess”.

Amazingly, Director of Catering Anita Hernandez, Rojas’s superior, decided to support his decision to inflict collective punishment on the employees despite the fact that there was every reason to believe that all but one (and very possibly all) were innocent of any wrongdoing.

The union delegate, and a fellow banquet employee, charged management with not conducting an investigation to determine when and how the napkins came to be soiled. He conducted his own investigation and concluded an open bottle of wine could easily have been left out on a tray and anyone–a worker, a hotel guest or even a manager– could have accidentally and unknowingly bumped the tray, causing the bottle to tip and spill on the napkins.

After the union delegate initiated a challenge of the waiters’ wrongful discipline, management retaliated by writing up the banquet bartenders as well. These write-ups raised the number of employees management had baselessly accused to 15.

Hilton managers think nothing of accusing hardworking employees of wrongdoing and disciplining them without a shred of evidence that they had engaged in any misconduct or even that any misconduct had occurred. Assistant Director of Human Resources Mariela Colon actually told several banquet waiters that management can write up anybody for anything, whether or not it is true, whether or not there is any evidence, and it’s the workers’ responsibility to take it to arbitration and defend themselves.

Colon’s statement is typical of management’s attitude and philosophy at the Condado Plaza. So, too, is the willingness at higher levels of Hilton management to tolerate and condone the hotel’s employees being subjected to arbitrary punishment. Had it not been for an aggressive battle the union waged on behalf of the punished workers, the spurious write-ups would still remain in their personnel files.

BACK