Workers push for ‘panic buttons’

Hospitality workers in Rancho Palos Verdes are proposing an ordinance to require the exclusive Terranea Resort and nearby Trump National Golf Club to supply employees with “panic buttons” to alert authorities in the case of a sexual assault.

A union representing hospitality workers said it will file paperwork with the Rancho Palos Verdes city clerk Tuesday, seeking to put the measure on the November ballot. Once the paperwork is approved, Unite Here Local 11 will have 90 days to collect about 4,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Terranea was targeted by the union because Sandra Pezqueda, a former Terranea Resort worker, said she was fired in 2016 after complaining about the sexual advances of her supervisor.

Pezqueda, who filed a lawsuit against her former employer, was among several women named Persons of the Year by Time magazine last year for launching the #MeToo movement. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in June.

In a statement, Pezqueda said, “I don’t want anyone else in this city to go through what I went through, so I am hopeful that voters will pass this measure into law.”

The union said Trump’s club was included because of previous harassment allegations made by several women against Donald Trump, before he was president.

A Terranea representative said that the resort hasn’t seen the proposed ordinance but that workers already have the ability to alert security officials in emergencies. In a statement, the resort added that “Terranea is in the process of assigning new personal panic buttons to associates throughout the resort as a further safeguard.”