Bear with me on this one . . .  On Christmas Eve, the Appeals Court in the state of Washington invalidated a voter-approved law known as the Hotel Employee Health and Safety Initiative. On its face, Initiative 124 dealt only with hotel employees, however the depth and breadth of its provisions could have stretched far and wide. Championed by the hotel workers union, Unite Here – Local 8, the initiative was passed by the city electorate back in 2016 with over 75% plurality. The initiative required (hotel) employers to provide ‘panic’ buttons to employees and to maintain listings of guests accused of harassment. Further, the law mandated healthcare subsidies to (hotel) employees and dictated that a new (hotel) owner must hire from the list of existing employees maintained by the former owner (seller). Technically, the court found that it contained multiple separate parts and thereby violated Seattle’s “single subject” requirement, which restricts passage of multiple rules in one measure. Although the law only applied to hotel employees, it would be an easy step to expand its provisions to other (read QSR) industries. The city of Seattle has not indicated whether it will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, but given its anti-business bent, I would be surprised if it didn’t! The law was upheld by a lower court earlier this year.