Layoff

The Culinary Union has contracts with more than 45 different employers. Most have language that is very similar, but there can be differences. Call the Culinary Union at 702-385-2131 to speak to your organizer or a grievance specialist for answers to specific questions or to ask questions about the contract with your employer.

• When a company’s business increases, more workers are usually hired to service the extra customers. When a company has fewer customers or customers cut back on spending it is likely the number of workers will be reduced. The Culinary Union contract requires that if a company reduces the number of workers it has to be done according to house seniority. The term for this is layoff. House seniority is used to determine who gets laid off. Part-time or steady-extra workers have house seniority only among themselves and are first to be laid off before full-time workers.

Layoff example: A company decides there are too many Kitchen Workers for the amount of business in the Main Kitchen and eliminates one job. However, the Kitchen Worker with the least house seniority works in the Room Service Kitchen. The least senior Kitchen Worker from Room Service gets laid off despite the fact that the job eliminated was in the Main Kitchen. Layoffs also must be done by job classification. Classification example; A Pot Washer who works in the Room Service kitchen may have less house seniority than the Kitchen Worker who was laid off, but continues working because the layoff was among Kitchen Workers, not Pot Washers.