HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES, ETC. v. Boca Raton Club

73 So. 2d 867, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2516, 48 A.L.R. 2d 986, 1954 Fla. LEXIS 1745
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 6, 1954
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 73 So. 2d 867 (HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES, ETC. v. Boca Raton Club) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES, ETC. v. Boca Raton Club, 73 So. 2d 867, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2516, 48 A.L.R. 2d 986, 1954 Fla. LEXIS 1745 (Fla. 1954).

Opinion

73 So.2d 867 (1954)

HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES & BARTENDERS UNION, LOCAL NO. 339 et al.
v.
BOCA RATON CLUB, Inc.

Supreme Court of Florida. En Banc.

July 6, 1954.

*868 Lucille Snowden and George S. O'Kell, Miami, for appellants.

Burns, Middleton & Rogers, West Palm Beach, and John Moore, Delray Beach, for appellee.

HOBSON, Justice.

One of the questions before us is whether the amended bill of complaint, which was dismissed by the chancellor, states a claim upon which relief may be granted on behalf of all or any of the plaintiffs, who have elected not to take advantage of the proffered leave to amend further and are appellants here. For convenience, we shall first summarize the amended complaint because it gives a complete statement of the plaintiffs' present case, although we shall consider other questions before reaching the one above referred to.

The following allegations of fact appear from a study of the amended complaint.

Boca Raton Club, Inc., the employer, defendant-appellee herein, operates a resort hotel at Boca Raton, Florida, during the "season", which extends from about the first of December to the first of May each year. Plaintiffs are a labor union and a number of individual employees who are members of the plaintiff union and sue as employees, as union members and as individuals. The hotel operated by the employer is in an isolated location, far from other housing accommodations, and thus room and board are furnished for the employees. Living quarters and a "canteen" for employees are located behind the hotel proper and surrounded by a high fence, the only entrance or exit being through gates at which the employer's police stand at all times.

As the season progressed, grievances developed among the employees regarding wages and hours, the one grievance alleged as common to all plaintiff employees being that tips, which "make up most of the actual money earned by plaintiffs" were withheld, in whole or in part, permanently or for long periods of time, when paid by guests to the management rather than directly to plaintiffs.

"Employees in the liquor and food service department" of the defendant joined the plaintiff union. It is not clear from the complaint whether all, or indeed, any, of the plaintiff employees were members of this group, but from the declaration previously referred to that the named individual plaintiffs are suing "as members of the union" it is inferable that all plaintiff employees are allegedly members of the liquor and food service department and are union members. On February 6, 1953, the union, by letter, notified defendant's manager, Carroll, "of the employees unionization and their desire for collective bargaining". The union sent further letters to Carroll on February 14 and 26, 1953, requesting a conference and suggesting an agenda, but without reply. On February 27, 1953, the union representative telephoned Carroll and was informed that there would be no meeting or collective bargaining agreement. By secret ballot and with a majority vote, the employees of "the said department" decided to strike, and on March 4, 1953, "all the *869 employees of the catering department, except three" refused to work. The relationship between the "liquor and food service department" the "catering department" and the individual plaintiffs nowhere appears. The defendant refused to recognize the union, told the "employees (apparently the striking employees of the "catering department") that they must leave their living quarters, and that they could resign and be rehired. On March 5, 1953, the defendant issued the following notice for distribution to "said plaintiffs":

"Important Notice =================
"All Dining Room and Bar Employees Not Working Are Hereby Notified to Vacate the Boca Raton Hotel and Club Premises as of Today, March 5th, 1953.
"This Is a Final Notice =======================
"I Am Glad and Willing Now and Have Always Been to Discuss With Any Employee of the Boca Raton Hotel and Club Any Problem or Grievance.
"Any Dining Room or Bar Employees Who Wi sh to Resume Working Will Please Communicate at Once ==== With Mr. James Simms, Catering Manager, and Employment Will Be Guaranteed Until the End of This Season. "James J. Carroll "Boca Raton Hotel & Club"

Simultaneously, at about 3:00 p.m., on March 5, defendant closed the gates to plaintiffs' living quarters, preventing plaintiffs from passing in or out, and also stationed police at the stairs leading to plaintiffs' rooms so that "plaintiffs were held prisoner wherever they happened to be". At 7:00 p.m., on the same date, plaintiffs held in the "canteen" were permitted to go to their rooms. On the following day, "plaintiffs outside the gates could not go to their rooms, and plaintiffs inside the gates could not leave, unless they accepted absolute discharge and accumulated their possessions from their rooms". The defendant then stated that it would meet with a committee consisting only of employees on the following morning, March 7, 1953, provided all employees requesting a meeting for bargaining purposes would first take their possessions and leave the premises. Plaintiffs declined this offer, and defendant informed them that they would be evicted. From midnight of March 6, 1953 to early morning of March 7, defendant caused plaintiffs "not locked out" to be arrested for criminal trespass. No regard was given to individual status, and some plaintiffs were arrested who were unable to work because of illness. At no time did plaintiffs conduct themselves in other than an orderly manner, but defendant surrounded their quarters with thirty policemen. Whether or not these plaintiffs were actually evicted does not appear from the amended complaint. "Many of the plaintiffs" were, however, fined for criminal trespass on March 10, 1953.

On March 11, 13 and 14, the picture appears to have undergone a complete change. On those dates defendant met with plaintiff union representatives and "definite agreements were entered into with plaintiff union on all phases of the labor dispute * * *." "Letter confirmation" of this agreement was sent to defendant, and plaintiffs returned to work on Sunday, March 15, 1953. Thereafter, however, defendant began to retract, i.e., breach, the agreement, according to the complaint, although no facts are set up in support of this allegation.

The above are the main factual allegations of the amended complaint, which concludes with a prayer that the court "construe the sworn allegations herein, the exhibits attached, and the testimony presented, and ascertain to what extent the defendant has committed unfair labor practices * *. That if unfair labor practices have been committed, and are being committed * * that after final hearing a permanent injunction be entered ordering said defendant to cease and desist further unfair labor practices * * * and that plaintiffs have damages * * * and that the court allow such other relief as in equity may be just."

*870

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73 So. 2d 867, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2516, 48 A.L.R. 2d 986, 1954 Fla. LEXIS 1745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hotel-restaurant-employees-etc-v-boca-raton-club-fla-1954.