A federal administrative law judge ruled this week that the owner and manager of the Pacific Beach Hotel violated employees' rights and he ordered the Waikiki hotel to reinstate seven laid-off workers and to bargain in good faith with the workers' union.

Judge James Kennedy ruled Wednesday in favor of 15 of 16 complaints of unfair labor practices filed with the National Labor Relations Board by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142. The charges were filed against the Pacific Beach Hotel following years of dispute between management and employees.

The hotel can appeal the judge's decision to the NLRB. A hotel spokesman yesterday said the owners are studying the ruling and declined immediate comment.

The ruling is a victory for the 360 hourly employees at the hotel who have been embroiled in an often bitter dispute with hotel management for more than four years. Local 142 was certified to represent the workers in August 2005, but has never received a contract with Pacific Beach and its owner, HTH Corp.

Kennedy wrote that since the union certification, the hotel had "no intention of reaching an agreement" with its employees.

"There is no debate that (Pacific Beach Hotel) engaged in bad-faith bargaining from the outset, then entered into a scheme whereby it could 'wash' the union's certification from itself and behave as if the employees never had selected the union as their bargaining representative," Kennedy wrote.

The judge was referring to a move by the hotel in January 2007 when management of the 837-room property was turned over to PBH Management LLC, an affiliate of Outrigger Hotels Hawaii. As the union and PBHM were about to reach a contract deal, Kennedy wrote, HTH Corp. canceled the operating agreement with PBH management on Dec. 1, 2007, and whatever negotiated deals had been reached.

Kennedy said that HTH Corp. "utilized PBHM as a middleman as part of a scheme to disguise its decision to deprive the employees of union representation and to escape its obligation to collectively bargain in good faith."

All of the hotel employees were laid off and required to reapply with HTH Corp.'s new management firm. The union said that about 30 employees were not retained, including seven who had been active in labor activities.

Kennedy ordered the hotel to offer the seven their jobs with back pay and interest.

The judge also ordered the hotel to recognize Local 142 as the bargaining representative of the employees, pay the union for the cost of negotiations, bargain in good faith, and rescind any unilateral changes made at the hotel that the union disagrees with.

Dave Mori, O'ahu director for the ILWU Local 142, said the union will have to wait and see whether the hotel will appeal Kennedy's decision before any changes can be expected at the hotel.

"This doesn't give us a contract," Mori said. "We're just hopeful that the hotel will be agreeable to follow the orders and resume negotiations."

Still, Mori said the ruling is a victory for the workers.

"Their rights were violated under the law to be represented by a union, to participate in the collective bargaining process to get a contract," Mori said. "What the judge basically said was everything that the hotel did was to undermine that right, even down to the termination of the employees."

The only charge not upheld by Kennedy was an accusation that Robert "Mick" Minicola, HTH regional vice president, engaged in coercive surveillance when he watched union demonstrations and rallies at the hotel from his office.