Warning: This article contains pictures of dead vermin.
Several current and former employees of the Sky Terrace restaurant at the W Hollywood, an upscale hotel at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, are coming clean and speaking out about what they say is a rat infestation in some of the eatery’s facilities.
Five cooks, servers and receivers at the rooftop restaurant said they repeatedly reported the persistent vermin problem to managers but felt like their concerns were not taken seriously.
In a complaint the group filed with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, they accuse Mosaic LLC, the management company that operates Sky Terrace and the W Hollywood, of “(1) failing to maintain premises to prevent the entrance or harborage of vermin and (2) failing to institute a continuous and effective extermination program.”
Edward Diaz, a former line cook at the restaurant, said management doesn’t seem to understand how the infestation problem affects workers.
“They need to be aware that they have to care because how else are they supposed to have a good working environment?” he told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff.
Diaz and fellow employees took pictures and videos of what they say shows rats, some dead, others alive, in a basement storage room.
Photo of vermin allegedly inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. 
Photo of vermin allegedly inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. 
Photo of vermin allegedly inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. 
Photo of vermin allegedly inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. 
Photo of vermin allegedly inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. 
Photo of alleged vermin feces inside a Sky Terrace restaurant facility in the W Hollywood hotel in at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
“When I walked in, there was on the traps a couple of rats,” he explained. “One of them was still alive and moving and the boss’s instructions were to get rid of the rats before someone comes and sees them.”
In another picture, they say rat droppings can be seen on a box of food.
According to the complaint, a Sky Terrace server alleges that on one occasion, he noticed rodents inside the 12th-floor restaurant itself.
“The problem didn’t go away, right?” Maria Hernandez with Unite Here Local 11, the union that represents the workers, said. “Rats were still found. People were still complaining about them and so we think it should be taken a lot more seriously.”
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health told KTLA that at the end of July, it shut down three remote storage facilities where rat droppings were observed. Those facilities were reinspected 48 hours later by the health department and were found to be up to code.
City inspectors also came out on Nov. 20 and looked at the kitchen and storage room but found no evidence of rats.
As for Mosaic LLC, a spokesperson for the company told KTLA the following:
“The company maintains an A rating with the health department, has a monthly pest control service, relies on regular reports from the health department and has high cleanliness standards.”
The group of employees that filed the complaint with CAL/OSHA are asking that state inspectors conduct a thorough, expedited investigation of the Sky Terrace facilities.
