Angela Carillo wants her old job back.
She and about 100 of her co-workers were laid off last spring and are still waiting to hear from their former employer about returning to the Columbia, Md., hotel where Carillo has worked nearly half her life.
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David Costello — whose company, IMH Columbia LLC, received more than $2 million in federal pandemic funds to help offset payroll — has shown no inclination to bring Carillo or the others back. And the hotel workers’ union is now questioning how Costello has been able to benefit from the Payroll Protection Program and not recall his workers.
“It seems they don’t want to hire us back, and I don’t know why,” said Carillo, 59, an immigrant from Guatemala who has worked at the Sheraton Columbia for the past 24 years. “We have no job and we really need the job.”
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After months of fighting for unemployment benefits, jobless workers like Carillo are now clawing to reclaim the lives they knew before the covid-19 economic shutdown.
They started this spring by asking Costello to rehire them. Then they began making calls to their local council members and writing their congressman, and earlier this week they initiated a boycott of the revamped Sheraton hotel, now known as the Merriweather Lakehouse.
Unlike several cities and states across the country, including California, Connecticut, Baltimore and the District, Maryland does not have a “right to recall” or “right to return” law that protects workers who were laid off during the pandemic. Under these laws, which have been enacted over the past year, employers must offer laid-off workers their jobs back before hiring other workers or are required to rehire based on seniority.
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Officials with Unite Here Local 7, which represents the Sheraton workers, said they considered pushing for a statewide “right to recall” law in Maryland during the 2021 legislative session but backed down after the hotel industry lobbied so strongly, albeit unsuccessfully, against a similar local proposal in Baltimore.
“At the state level, the dynamics are different. … We were looking at whether the politics were there to make it happen,” said Tracy Lingo, staff director for Unite Here Local 7. “It really should be uncontroversial because it’s all people that the employers hired in the first place. … The hotels say, ‘You shouldn’t tell us who to hire.’ We’re just saying you should bring them back.”
Lingo said even though Maryland doesn’t have a “right to recall” law, some companies in the state’s hospitality industry have extended the right to workers. Merriweather Lakehouse has not.
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Paul D. Burgin, an attorney representing IMH Columbia, said in an email that the contract between the hotel and the union expired at the end of June. “Recall rights of the most senior former Hotel employees expired, at the very least, on April 1, 2021,” he said. “At this time, the Hotel is not open, nor has it hired any hourly employees associated with hotel operations.”
Burgin said all former employees are welcome to apply for open positions “and the Hotel will consider all candidates on a nondiscriminatory basis based on their qualifications.”
According to Lingo, the hotel has started advertising for housekeeping jobs, and 13 of the union’s members applied. Five were called for an interview and none of them have been rehired, she said.
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In an earlier interview, before referring questions to the company’s attorney, Costello said a reopening date is still undetermined but could come in late October.
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By then, Kelvin Anderson, 56, who lives in Baltimore and worked at the Sheraton for five years as a banquet houseman, will have been out of work for 18 months.
He said since his final day at work on April 4 of last year, life has been a constant battle — from fighting for unemployment benefits to trying to get rehired. He applied for unemployment but only received two checks before his benefits stopped. Caught in the red tape of the state’s unemployment system, he said he didn’t receive another check until earlier this month.
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“It’s been rough,” he said, adding that he has managed to stay afloat “by the grace of God” and savings that he and his fiance built.
Carillo has worked full-time in banquet services at the local Sheraton and part-time at a nearby DoubleTree hotel for years. With the pay, she was able to send money to Guatemala to help her elderly mother.
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That changed last April.
Now, she said, as she tries to keep a roof over her own head, she continues to work part-time at the DoubleTree and has started cleaning houses.
“It’s stressful,” Carillo said. “He doesn’t want to hire us, and we really want to go back to work. … Now I not only have to worry about my family but also me.”
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Unite Here Local 7, which sued Gov. Larry Hogan (R) this summer when he moved to end enhanced federal unemployment benefits early, is continuing to fight with Costello on the workers’ behalf.
Roxie Herbekian, the president of the union, sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) raising questions about Costello’s company use of the Payroll Protection Program.
Rachel W. Howard, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore District office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which oversees the program, said she could not comment on a specific company’s loan.
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She said in an email, “PPP loans/funds are tied to payroll expenses, not individuals. Meaning that the loan must be used to maintain or increase overall spending for payroll. There is no requirement to retain or bring back existing workers.”
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In her letter, Herbekian said she is concerned about whether Costello has asked for either of his two loans, totaling $2.56 million, to be forgiven. The union is requesting an audit. The federal government will forgive loans if “the employee and compensation levels are maintained; loans are spent on payroll costs and other eligible expenses and if at least 60 percent of the loan is spent on payroll costs,” according to the Small Business Administration website.
In a statement, Howard said “the ‘spirit’ of the loan program/legislation was to get people back to work. If the employer/borrower chose to spend their funds without concern for the 60% payroll expense threshold, the loan would not be forgiven.”
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Lingo said even if the company has not violated the requirements of the program, she sees its current position as morally indefensible.
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“It really is outside of the bounds of what is acceptable,” she said.
Burgin did not respond to a request for additional comment.
Last week, several unions and community groups joined with the workers to pledge that they will not patronize the hotel until the workers are rehired.
“There are no contracts in place and there will be no contracts in place to get us back in that place,” said Willie Flowers, president of the NAACP, Maryland State Conference, at a recent rally. Flowers said his organization has held at least two events at the hotel in the last five years.
As Lingo read a list of individuals and groups that have pledged not to do business with or attend events at the hotel, Anderson shouted from behind his mask, “Thank you. Thank you.”
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