Hospitality

Overview

Technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and mobile applications have substantially expanded the menu of offerings that hospitality businesses can provide to their customers. Despite these burgeoning advancements, changes in immigration policy, labor shortages, complex wage and hour laws, and other workplace issues can create operational and legal challenges for hospitality businesses. At the same time, the hospitality industry remains vulnerable to external threats like political instability, fluctuations in market demand, and environmental change.

With experience advising restaurant corporations, hotels, casinos, gaming and other resort destinations, gyms, cruise lines, caterers and liquor stores across the country, we understand the competitive demands on hospitality businesses and provide solutions that help our clients best serve consumers. In addition to our firm-wide hospitality practice, several of our offices have formed relationships with their local hospitality industry associations. Our attorneys are also members of the National Association of Licensing and Compliance Professionals.

Our hospitality team encompasses both labor and employment law practitioners and attorneys firm-wide with extensive knowledge of federal, state, and local laws and regulatory concerns that impact hospitality business operations. We also leverage our international capabilities to further our knowledge of the global environment in which our clients manage their operations.

Fitness

Whether you are a neighborhood gym or a national franchise, operating a business in the health club and fitness industry involves multiple moving parts, such as member and employee safety, professional trainer arrangements, and equipment maintenance. In this era of customization, gyms across the country are also exploring innovative ways to harness technology to enhance the user experience. We understand that managing your workforce and complying with all wage and hour, safety and privacy mandates is only one aspect of running a successful fitness enterprise. Whether we are counseling on compliance or litigating a workplace dispute, our goal is always to obtain a favorable outcome while helping you run a business with an engaged and growing membership base.

Gaming

As more states legalize gambling, and online gambling opportunities proliferate, the gaming industry must prepare for enhanced competition with respect to both customers and the talented employees who help create an atmosphere that results in business success. This dynamic will lead businesses operating in the gaming sector to continue to innovate and improve customer experiences as they address complex regulatory and permitting requirements and consumer privacy protections, as well as strategic workforce management issues involving expanding labor and employment laws.

With vast experience representing resort destinations and the gaming industry in all operational aspects, our team not only understands the challenges inherent in managing these evolving environments, but we also have a depth of experience that allows us to partner with businesses to create a workplace where management and all employees have the policies, practices and procedures necessary to ensure the highest quality of customer service. We leverage our legal and industry-specific knowledge to provide effective, efficient business solutions on the entire range of labor and employment, benefits, privacy, and immigration issues facing the gaming industry.

Hotels

From online accommodation aggregators to artificial intelligence and IoT, technology is transforming the hotel industry. As customer demands and technological enhancements accelerate, hotel companies will be compelled to balance seemingly endless opportunities for growth with unique business challenges. We understand the complex environment in which hotel industry employers operate daily, and strive to help you minimize the impact of workplace disruptions so you can focus on growing your business. We frequently partner with our attorneys who have expertise working with transportation and technology companies to better serve the unique needs of hotel industry employers.

Restaurants

From wage and hour regulations to food labeling laws and licensing requirements, employers in the restaurant industry face more than their share of compliance challenges. At the same time, frequent employee turnover, combined with a high level of customer contact, make day-to-day workforce management and effective employee and supervisor training an indispensable part of doing business.

Our restaurant team provides legal and strategic business solutions to hundreds of restaurants across the United States with unparalleled results, depth and experience. Jackson Lewis represents more than one third of the U.S. restaurant chains listed in the 2017 Nation’s Restaurant News Top 100. Our nationwide group of attorneys helps restaurants comply with federal, state and local laws on a regional basis and across the 50 states.