Workers Encounter Rats in the Basement and the Rooftop Skytop Terrace Restaurant at the W Hollywood Hotel

The W Hollywood Hotel should have pest control on speed dial after five cooks, servers and receivers filed a complaint due to the ongoing rodent problem, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

W Hotel; credit: David Starkman

W Hollywood Hotel is Having Rat Issues According to Workers

Unite Here Local 11 represents workers who witnessed "rats and mice running around stored food" at the W Hollywood Hotel located at 6250 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, CA.

The L.A. Times reported that the workers "discovered bags of flour and rice covered in what appeared to be rat feces, urine, and bite marks." They reported "every rodent encounter to management" with a messaging application.

The rodents have been seen at both the Sky Terrace on the 12th floor of the W Hotel, but mostly "in the storage rooms in the basement" of the W Hotel. This is where workers saw mice and rats "dashing around the stored food," which troubled the employees.

As a result, management set traps to catch the rodents, and asked workers to "clean more thoroughly," but despite efforts, the traps and increased cleaning did not resolve the "rodent infestation."

Unite Here Local 11 union reported the complaint on 16 November 2023 on behalf of five cooks, servers, and receivers who work or have worked there. They attached photos and video footage of live and dead mice and rats and evidence of rodent feces and urine taken between May 3 to October 12, 2023.

The Sky Terrace has remained open despite the rodent complaints.

Mosaic LLC, which operates Sky Terrace released a statement.

It read:

“We take health and safety very seriously and follow standards that meet or exceed health and safety regulations,” a Mosaic representative said in a statement. The spokesperson added that the hospitality group is "ready to assist OSHA or the L.A. County Department of Public Health with any related inquiries.”

Nick Remedio, general manager of the W Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard said they work with "a leading pest control company on an ongoing basis and engage[s] them for any specific concerns reported within the building."

The workers said the rodent problem has been "recurring and persistent," and that the inspections did not reflect the "reality of the situation." They said they hope the complaint will prompt the authorities to take more serious action and hold the restaurant operator accountable.

Los Angeles Health Department Shut Down Three Storage Rooms Temporarily in July 2023 After Rodent Problems

Back at the end of July (2023), the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health "shut down there of the storage rooms operated by Mosaic LLC for 48 hours after they found dozens of rodent droppings in the facilities, according to official documents provided by the agency to the L.A. Times and "one of the three storage rooms lacked a public health permit."

Around this time a server at the Sky Terrace restaurant uncovered the credenza on the rooftop of the restaurant and found a glue trap near silverware with two mice stuck on it, one dead and the other alive. Management instructed the server to throw the mice into the trash. That same morning, that same server found another live mouse stuck in a trap along the wall of the restaurant.

However, it was noted that at the same time as the storage room problems, the Sky Terrace had no signs of rodent activity and received an "A" health inspection grade.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health re-inspected on August 2, 2023, and found that "all of the violations had been corrected."

Workers allege that the rodent problem came back after this re-inspection.

One of the chefs asked a receiver to get a bag of flour in the storage room and bring it up to the Sky Terrace kitchen on the 12th floor. When it was delivered, the bag had an obvious tear and contained rodent feces and urine residue. The receiver was disgusted to see the rat droppings and yellow evidence of urine.

The chef asked the receiver to dispose of "half of the flour" and "intended to use the other half."

Only a month after this incident, another server noticed rodents inside the Sky Terrace restaurant.

One line cook said: "Nowhere have I seen rodents in the workplace like that, and the managers knew about the vermin." He stopped eating food from the kitchen after that.

Source:

Carcamo, Cindy. "Food Workers at W Hollywood allege rodent infestation at Sky Terrace restaurant." Los Angeles Times. 4 December 2023.