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LEARN TO SPOT THE SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING Business leaders have the power to change attitudes and actions that harm businesses and exploit women and children. If you commit to do just one thing during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January 2022, the single best action you can take is to learn how to spot the signs of trafficking. Human traffickers profit from the commercial exploitation of children, women, and men. There are two types of trafficking in the United States: Sex trafficking is (1) the prostituting of a child or youth (under 18) or (2) the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel an adult into commercial sex work. Labor trafficking is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into work. As the U.S. anti-trafficking movement has grown in our understanding of this diverse and complex crime, we are learning more about how specific people, such as medical professionals, teachers, truck drivers, and restaurant and hotel personnel, in addition to friends and family members, can help identify and report possible trafficking. Everyone can help by learning the types of trafficking and paying attention to the people around us. Who is Most Vulnerable? Anyone can experience trafficking in any community, just as anyone can be the victim of any kind of crime. Generational trauma, historic oppression, discrimination, and other societal factors and inequities create community-wide vulnerabilities. Traffickers recognize and take advantage of people who are vulnerable. Who Are the Traffickers? There is no evidence that traffickers are more likely to be of a particular race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. They may be family members, romantic partners, acquaintances, or strangers. How Do Traffickers Lure People In? Stories become weapons in the hands of human traffickers— tales of romantic love everlasting or about good jobs and fair wages just over the horizon. Sometimes, the stories themselves raise red flags. Other times, traffickers or potential traffickers may raise red flags during recruitment. Recognizing Labor Trafficking Labor trafficking includes situations where men, women, and children are forced to work because of debt, immigration status, threats and violence. Keeping victims isolated — physically or emotionally — is a key method of control in most labor trafficking situations. But that does not mean you never cross paths with someone who is experiencing trafficking. Recognizing Sex Trafficking Sex trafficking occurs when individuals are made to perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Any child under 18 who is involved in commercial sex is legally a victim of trafficking, regardless of whether there is a third party involved.
How contactless technology can prevent human trafficking
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The COVID-19 pandemic forced hotels to change their operations. When the pandemic began, many hoteliers worried that switching to using technology systems that require less face-to-face contact could result in guests missing out on what makes hospitality special—the personal touch. But as we move into the third year of the pandemic, hotels have found that contactless technology is not reducing the guest experience. In fact, technology is allowing more touchpoints with guests while streamlining task management for employees. Even before the pandemic, new technology trends like keyless entry and self-check-in were already becoming popular in the hospitality industry. The pandemic has accelerated the popularity of contactless technology, and many hotels are discovering that implementing digitalization is changing hospitality for the better. Hotel managers can use new technology tools to add reminders for staff to remember to watch for human trafficking or add a list of human trafficking indicators that staff can access through their devices. In addition, managers can easily assign times for employees to receive online human trafficking awareness training, especially if the link to the training is inserted directly into each employee’s tasks. Security departments are vital for preventing human trafficking, especially when guests are having less face-to-face contact with other employees—security departments are the eyes in the sky. Security departments can leverage the use of new technology to help them identify human trafficking. A benefit of using a hospitality software platform is that security departments can monitor guestroom door activity. Platforms can report how often a door opens, and they even show if it was opened by keyless entry from the outside or if the door is opened from the inside. When security staff see that a door is opened an uncommon number of times—that can be a warning sign for security. Technology can also help security departments control who has access to elevators. This is important for regulating the number of people who are not guests at the hotel from accessing rooms by requiring visitors to have either a guest or a hotel employee allow them access to the elevators from the lobby. Guest messaging can also be a powerful tool for helping human trafficking victims. If a victim is in control of a smartphone and is able to communicate with hotel staff, he or she can text staff to ask for help without drawing attention from his or her abusers. On the flip side, if a staff member is concerned about a particular guest, he or she can text to make sure everything is OK and invite the guest to reach out if in need of help or assistance. This type of human trafficking intervention can be safer for both the victim and the staff member as long as it is framed as a customer service check that is done for all guests. These new technology systems are the wave of the future for the hospitality industry. At first glance it may seem that less human contact in hotels might make guests feel isolated or make spotting human trafficking more difficult, but if hotels are intentional about how they go digital, there are ways hoteliers can use technology to increase touchpoints with guests, foster better employee communication and keep hotels safe from both COVID-19 and traffickers.
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HOUSE INTRODUCES A BILL TO BRING BACK THE ERTC The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) is a COVID-19 relief measure enhanced in the Taxpayer Certainty & Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act 2021, and implemented to help restaurants and small businesses. The ERTC allowed businesses to receive up to $5,000 per employee in their tax refund if they can prove they had a revenue reduction in 2020. This boost for small businesses officially ended when President Biden signed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law in November, which backdated the ERTC claims to September 30 instead of the end of the year.
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The legislation, which passed the Senate in August by a vote of 69-30, ends ERTC for the fourth calendar quarter of 2021 in order to raise $8 billion and partially offset federal infrastructure spending increases. Previous ERTC eligibility or payments, either for 2020 or any of the prior three calendar quarters for 2021, should not be affected. In an effort to prevent program cuts, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) reached out to Congress, sharing the negative impact this would have on restaurants across the country still struggling with increased food costs, supply chain disruptions, limited capacity, changes in consumer behavior, and a labor shortage. On December 7, a bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced a bill on Tuesday that would bring back the ERTC. The Employee Retention Tax Credit Reinstatement Act was introduced to Congress by Reps. Carol Miller (R-W. Va.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), and Terri A. Sewell (D-Ala.). “By reinstating the ERTC, struggling small businesses can access one of the last remaining pandemic recovery programs to receive the help they need to replenish their workforce and get back on track,” Congresswoman Carol Miller said in a statement. “As we continue to emerge from this public health emergency, we must remember that small businesses in West Virginia and across the country still need our support.” Lawmakers in support of extending the ERTC have said that by ending the tax credit in September instead of the end of 2021, it has caused confusion for small businesses and will create chaos come tax season. They are urging Congress to pass the bill as soon as possible.
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“As the pandemic has continued this year, ERTC has been an invaluable lifeline for restaurants struggling to recruit and retain workers,” Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs with the National Restaurant Association said in a statement. “Reinstatement of the employee retention credit will support small business restaurants, their employees and the communities they serve.” The NRA has engaged the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service to adopt measures to expedite processing of ERTC claims, provide restaurants additional time to file federal income tax documentation and not assess financial penalties. heartland.us/restaurant
January 2022 • SCRLA.org
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