City Council Chairwoman Ann Koba­yashi has rightly put on hold a bill that mandates hotel employee callback rules and requires cleaning of occupied hotel rooms. While the debate over Bill 80 is a necessary one to balance business and labor concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the measure’s legality is dubious and the room-cleaning proposal appears to conflict with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

While the bill undergoes further vetting, the Council is slated to hear, on Thursday, a sensible resolution urging the hoteliers to work with employees to ensure “fair and equitable right to recall” and set “comprehensive safety and protective equipment standards.”