Complaints Filed as Wage Dispute Dogs Marriott at Dodger Stadium

The Marriott Corp., the outfit that wanted to rein in the peanut vendors at Dodger Stadium and keep selling food during the National Anthem, is again embroiled in controversy--this time, wage disputes with its employees.

The state labor commissioner’s office is reviewing four complaints about payroll snafus filed recently by food service employees at the stadium. But former and current employees say the payroll problems are more widespread than the complaints would indicate.

“It’s literally been a very miserable year out there,” said concession stand manager Nick Kavadas, a shop steward for Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.

He said the payroll system is so chaotic that some former employees are still receiving paychecks.

Some workers have been receiving the wrong pay rate since the beginning of the season while others have not been paid at all, say several former payroll department employees. They say the computer system that is used to pay the wages of the stadium’s 2,000 employees is in disarray.

“The payroll situation had evolved into a monster,” said former payroll director Angela Guzman, who held the position for two months. She said she quit in September because Marriott management did not support her efforts to rectify the problem.

A Marriott representative said there were problems at the beginning of the season, resulting in some employees being underpaid and others being overpaid, but the company has ironed out kinks in a new computerized payroll system. He said the current complaints by some employees do not represent the general attitude of Marriott employees at Dodger Stadium.

“The bottom line is we’ve had a few disgruntled employees who don’t like the way Marriott operates things,” said Marriott’s public relations director, Richard Sneed. “Our operations have been going extremely well over the last two months.”

Greg Rupp, a senior deputy at the state labor commissioner’s office, said four complaints against Marriott were filed with his office between July 23 and Aug. 13. He declined to provide details but said they are wage disputes.

Rupp said his office will try to get the two sides in each case to resolve the disputes informally. If that fails, he said, his department will hold a hearing to decide the matter.

The payroll complaints are not the first public relations problem that Marriott has faced since debuting as the food service operator at Dodger Stadium in April.

First, fans complained when the company wanted to steam instead of grill the famous Dodger Dogs. Then they complained when Marriott told Roger Owens, the “Peanut Man,” and other vendors that they could not hurl peanut bags to customers. Most recently, Marriott was criticized by employees for circulating a memo that ordered workers to work through the National Anthem.

Marriott reinstated grilled hot dogs and allowed the peanut man to keep pitching peanuts. A Marriott spokesman said the memo regarding the National Anthem was circulated at the request of the Dodger organization and was rescinded. The controversies, according to Marriott, were the results of misunderstandings.

But current and former employees say problems continue.

For example, Kavadas and others said at least 150 employees had agreed to hold a “sickout” during Saturday’s game against San Francisco to protest the payroll glitches and other problems, but the protest fizzled. Only 50 employees called in sick, according to Marriott spokesmen, who said it is normal to have that many employees out for a game.

Payroll complaints were so common that at the beginning of the season there were at least 700 complaints filed at the company’s payroll offices, said Danielle Elliott, a former employee in the payroll department.

Elliott said she was told by her superiors only to pay employees who complained. “Those people who didn’t complain got screwed,” she said. “And those people who complained or went to the union got paid again and again.”

Several former and current employees said the problems stem from inexperience and lack of leadership on the part of the Marriott Corp. “They really truly didn’t have any experience on how to set it up and how to run payroll there,” said Guzman, who had worked in banking before working for Marriott.

Sneed defended the company, saying it has experience operating large stadium concessions, including the Florida arena where the Orlando Magic pro basketball team plays.

Despite Marriott’s friction with workers, Dodger Stadium fans give the food service high marks, he said, citing a company survey of more than 1,000 fans. The survey, conducted during two games in July, showed that 75% of those participating said they were “very satisfied” with the food service. Another 17% rated it a “grand slam.” Only 4% rated the food service a “strikeout.”