The stakes are high for employed and employer in the mediation to work out a deal for the people terminated, by law, from their jobs at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito. As well, the attorney for the employees, Bruce Anticouni, has involved property owner Ty Warner on the theory that he controls the working conditions for employer Four Seasons. Not only is mediator Jeffrey Krivis charging $16,000 per day for the negotiation that could come to involve 450 employees, but severance pay in the tens of thousands of dollars may be owed to individual employees who have devoted decades of their working lives to the resort and never resigned their post after the pandemic shut down tourism across California in March 2020.
Which isn't to say resignation hasn't been part of their lives this past year. The resort was a good place to work. It paid higher wages than most hotels and offered full health-care benefits, even a 401k retirement program. Employees stayed for continuous years, polishing their presence and presentation for guests to match high Four Seasons expectations and room rates.
"Your identity gets tied up in these roles. We work very hard in this business, 12 to 14 hours a day, weekends, giving up time with family. It's all in," said a onetime senior executive at the Biltmore, who asked not to be identified for this story. She is one of those people with decades of experience gained at the 22-acre resort on Channel Drive and the Pacific Ocean, and she has remained close with her team and other employees during the furlough.