The owners of the Radisson Hotel Oakland Airport on Edes Avenue have agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a lawsuit the City of Oakland filed on behalf of 128 hotel workers it says were paid less than the city's hotel minimum wage, The Oaklandside reported Wednesday, Oct. 14. The City Council signed off on ending the case in closed session on Thursday, Oct. 8, and is scheduled to give final approval at its Tuesday, Oct. 20 meeting.
The settlement covers hotel owners Oakland Alameda Hotels LLC and Oakland Hotels LLC and majority shareholder Nupenbhai Patel. The $600,000 includes restitution, interest and attorney's fees. A summary of the council item by the civic-meeting tracker Assembly breaks it down as $511,685 for the workers, made up of $404,491 in back wages and $107,194 in interest, plus $88,315 to the city for its legal fees.
How the case started
Oakland voters passed Measure Z, the city's hotel worker protection and minimum wage law, in 2018. In October 2023, the city's Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES) found that the hotel had paid 128 workers less than the required Measure Z minimum wage from July 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020, and ordered $404,491.43 in back pay. That was one of the largest wage theft findings in the city in recent years, according to The Oaklandside.
When the money wasn't paid, then-City Attorney Barbara J. Parker sued in June 2024. "In filing this lawsuit, Oakland is standing up for the low-wage workers of our City," Parker said at the time, in a statement from her office. The case was filed in Alameda County Superior Court as case No. 24CV080638, according to the Oct. 20 council agenda.
The property has changed hands since then. The Oaklandside, citing the East Bay Times, reported that the Radisson went into court-ordered receivership in 2025 after missing loan payments, and that an affiliate of Cardera Health bought the property last month from Berkadia Hotels & Hospitality Group for $15.5 million. Patel did not respond to The Oaklandside's request for comment.
When workers get paid
"We're thrilled the settlement agreement will result in workers getting every penny of the wages they earned back into their pockets," Nora Cassidy, a worker protection attorney in the city attorney's office, told The Oaklandside. Interim DWES Director Chuck Baker called the result a "huge milestone" for the city.
It isn't yet clear when former employees will receive checks. DWES Deputy Director Laurel Moeslein said the city is working with the worker coalition Fair Labor Oakland and the nonprofit East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) to reach workers who may be owed money. Saabir Lockett of EBASE said the case shows why the labor standards department needs steady funding in each city budget.
Oakland workers who think they have been underpaid can file a complaint with the city's Department of Workplace and Employment Standards. For more on Oakland jobs and City Hall, see our reports on the planned West Oakland Costco and its 400 jobs and the city workers' contract talks.