A civil case was filed against Marriott on Monday by a former United employee who was terminated by the airline after a hotel had complained that the guest and his companion had violated their quarantine protocols.
Mr. Ray had worked on several international flights during early 2020 and a total of 20 years on United. He had also received lifetime Titanium status with Marriott Bonvoy.
You can read from what transpired from the plaintiff’s view on the PDF below:
Conclusion
I would say that it is a privacy violation on the hotel’s part to contact United regarding a situation with the guest in question.
If the guests violated the hotel’s or Marriott’s Covid-19 policies at the time, they should have asked them to simply leave.
In a case that they violated policies that the city, county, or state had in place, they should have contacted the relevant local authority set to deal with Covid-19 and quarantine-related issues and let them handle the case.
These events took place relatively early in the pandemic, and many jurisdictions didn’t have clearly defined rules in place.
It didn’t help that the messaging coming from the White House regarding wearing masks and quarantine was inconsistent.
It is United’s concern if it is a company paid trip.
Very interesting case, please keep us updated on this one!
I would imagine that if there is fault by Marriott or by the hotel, the case is settled before going to court (and we never know what the outcome is).
ah mr ray and his boy toy
Exactly. Mormon affiliated Marriott (or at least this franchise operator) should have just been upfront that it didn’t like seeing two men together rather than fabricating or twisting the Covid situation. Marriott can’t even post which hotel services are open/closed on their website, so it’s not surprising they coudn’t post their specific Covid policies either.
You said
“If the guest violated the hotel’s or Marriott’s Covid-19 policies at the time, they should have asked them to simply leave.”
How many people are you speaking of. Looks like guests, hence, “them”
Of course, facebook would have known, having access to everything all of the time (read your contract if you are ignorant of this aspect of the facebook relationship). United would have eventually found out.
PS, thoroughly interesting. I hope Mr Ray wins, but the state of our justice system (and more) disparages my hope.
The paper states that Mr. Ray had a caregiver, so they were two. It seemed that the caregiver was more violating protocol that Mr. Ray himself. But there is some weird allegations in there about blocking an emergency exit.
This is indeed a strange case. In my opinion the hotel should have worked with Mr. Ray & inform him if he was out of line they would report him to the appropiate authorities before going straight to his employment. I however feel at some point United would eventually find out because when you are under quarantine the company has the right to know your location, provided the company is footing the bill,second if United booked him its automatic they have the right to know how employees conduct themselves, third if Mr. Ray booked himself hes on his own regarding paying the hotel fees but it doesnt exempt him from inappropiate behavior because he still represent the company he works for. It seems something is amiss which i would encourage all employees to adhere to rules because we are always watched & rather it was to hurt Mr. Ray by reporting him to United remains to be seen. Its too bad a false claim or reckless behavior resulted in a termination of a 20 plus year employee.
They did not violate any privacy issues if United paid for the room. United is technically the room holder and United is liable for all actions employees take at the hotel.
Regardless of who paid for the room he was supposed to quarantine. Quarantine does not mean sitting in the lobby with other hotel guests.
United and Marriot took this too far. I think United had it out for him or found another way to down size. Getting fired over this was a weak reason.
I agreed with United to fire an employee with 20-year experience and not taking COVID seriously. Company like United has procedure in place for people who contacted COVID and taking times off. An essential worker knowing he may or already has COVID should quarantine and not to contact with anyone. An airline employee is representative of the company, and Mr. Ray is making United look bad. For example, if a United pilot seating at the bar and drunk. What would you be thinking? Using company rate for traveling require to follow the rule and be courtesy with people around you because Mr. Ray is representing United.