Newark, NJ Hotels & Lodging: Hotel Worker Retention (2026)

Under Newark City Code § 9:1-2 (Chapter 9:1, Quality Hospitality Hotels), at least 10 days before a hotel's ownership or operation transfers, the outgoing owner must give the successor employer a complete list of "Critical Employees": name, address, phone number, classification, date of hire and wage rate. Critical Employees are workers in Housekeeping, Food Preparation or Food Service, Front Desk/Front Service, and Engineering, including room attendants, house persons, bell/door persons, front desk agents, engineers, maintenance employees, cooks, stewards, bartenders and servers. At least 30 days before the transfer, the hotel must notify all Critical Employees of the proposed sale and of their rights under the ordinance.

The successor employer must then fill its positions by hiring first from that pool of Critical Employees, in order of seniority within each classification, at equal or better wages and benefits, and may not discharge a retained Critical Employee without just cause during the first 90 days of the new ownership. The retention duty does not apply if the successor employer agrees, on or before the transfer date, to be bound by an existing collective bargaining agreement that already sets terms for discharge or layoff. A related citywide rule for travel-service and building-service employees sits separately in Chapter 8:38.