From:

To:
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Subject:
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Attachments:

Zack Wasserman
Barnes, Deborah
Office of the Mayor; "libby.schaaf@oaklandnet.com"; McElhaney, Lynette; At Large; Kalb, Dan; Guillen, Abel;
Campbell Washington, Annie; Gallo, Noel; Brooks, Desley; "lreid@oakland.net"; Cook, Allyson E.
Complaint re Minimum Wage Ordinance against Oakland Airport Holiday Express
Monday, March 07, 2016 2:24:09 PM
Letter sent to Deborah Lusk-Barnes re Investigation of Complaints re Min....pdf
2016-02-12 RAJ Ltr to Lusk-Barnes re Investigation into Complaint agains....pdf

Deborah attached are the letters I discussed with you Friday we shared the one from Ogletree
Deakins with you previously. We appreciate the opportunity to sit down with your office so that the
investigation regarding the anonymous claims made against our clients can be fairly investigated.
We will do so as soon as the Report your office issued on February 3d is withdrawn. We also
expect the City to everything necessary to have the list of our clients employees and their salaries
taken down from the East Bay Web site. I will send you dates that our client can meet with your
office as soon as you can confirm the letter is being withdrawn. I look forward to hearing from you
today or tomorrow.

R. Zachary Wasserman | Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP

Tel: 510.834.6600 | Fax: 510.808.4691

1111 Broadway, 24th Floor | Oakland, CA 94607
zwasserman@wendel.com
www.wendel.com

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ENDEL
OSEN

III

BroodwoY, 24t^ Floor

Ooklond, CA 94607-4036

T:510-834-00
F:510-808-491

www.wendel.com
zwossermon@wendel.com

LACK & IAN rr

March 7,2016

VIA E.MAIL AND U.S. MAIL

Ms. Deborah Lusk-Barnes
Contracts and Compliance
Office of the City Administrator
City of Oakland
250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 3341
Oakland, CA94612
Re

Investigation of Complaints regarding the Oakland Minimum \ilage

Ordinance at the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn Express

Dear Ms. Barnes:

I write this letter on behalf of the owners of the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn Express.
V/e appreciate your invitation to meet with you and your office's investigators in response to the
serious issues we have raised with your office concerning the problems with the investigation in
this matter and the Report that your office issued on February 3,2016. Our client is fully
prepared to meet with you in order to have the opportunity they have not yet had to respond to
the investigators and the complaints that have apparently been made to your office.
Before we meet with you, in the interest of fairness and due process, your office needs to
withdraw the Report you issued on February 3,2016 because it is clear the investigation had not
been conducted in a manner that was adequate or fair to our client. In addition, this is required
because your Report included an attachment that included the names, salaries, and dates of
employment of all employees who work at our client's hotel and the letter with the attachment
has been distributed to the claimants and others and was immediately, and continues to be,
posted on the internet on the East Bay Express website.
V/e appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and your investigators to present the full
facts, rather than the partial and distorted facts, incomplete investigation and assumptions made
without any basis that arc contained in your Report. We will provide you with suggested dates
as soon as your office has notified us and the claimants - whose allegations we have never seen that your Report has been withdrawn. So that we are clear on what additional investigation
should be conducted regarding the findings your office reported in its Report, we are including
our February 12,2016letter describing the many specific problems with the investigation your
office conducted and the Report stating your office's findings.

019389.0002\423091

l, I

WENDEL, ROSEN, BLACK & DEAN LLP

Ms. Deborah Barnes

March 7,2016
Page2

As we have discussed, we also need to see the written investigation and appeal process
for complaints under the Minimum Wage Ordinance, so \'le know what process the City is
following. However, we are not requiring this official process before we sit down with you,
despite the uncertainty that this creates.

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Very truly yours,

& DEAN LLP

P.ZWlrzw
cc

Mayor
City Council Members
City Attorney

019389.0002\423091 l. I