6 Workers Sue Hotel, Say Boss Demanded Sex

Six current and former male housekeeping employees of a Los Angeles Sheraton hotel charge in a lawsuit that the hotel’s male executive housekeeper pressured them to have sex in return for their jobs.

A spokeswoman for the Sheraton Plaza la Reina Hotel, located near Los Angeles International Airport, denied the allegations. She said an internal investigation had cleared the executive housekeeper.

The lawsuit was coordinated by the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union, which has tried unsuccessfully for years to organize the hotel’s workers.

The suit, filed late last week in Torrance Superior Court against the hotel chain and several supervisors, alleges that executive housekeeper Anthony Rivera sexually harassed employees and coerced some into oral sex. It also charges that two employees were fired for refusing Rivera’s overtures and that another quit because of the harassment.

Rivera said in an interview that the allegations were fabricated and that one of the fired workers actually was terminated because he reported to work intoxicated.

One of the workers, Marco Alcazar, said that on the day he applied for employment in October, 1989, Rivera offered him a ride home, but instead drove to Rivera’s home, where he forced Alcazar to submit to oral sex to get the job.

Rivera said he had never driven a worker to his home.

Union officials said the allegations by the workers, all Latino immigrants, show how employers are able to exploit low-wage, non-English-speaking immigrants.

“Management has repeatedly ignored its employees’ calls for help,” said the union’s area coordinator, Bill Granfield. “Rivera’s victims are . . . all completely dependent on their jobs.”