Talk about the government getting into your bed: A proposed state law would force hotels to use fitted sheets or face misdemeanor fines.

The hotels, not surprisingly, aren’t happy. The hospitality industry views the bill as a costly requirement that, most significantly, is another example of the government encroaching on their business operations.

But supporters of the bill argue fitted sheets would dramatically reduce the number of injuries hotel housekeepers get from lifting heavy mattresses.

Robert Amano, executive director at downtown L.A.-based Hotel Association of Los Angeles, said the bill is based on good intentions but ill-conceived.

“The biggest concern is the micromanagement of what’s being dictated in this legislation,” Amano said.

He said the bill would conservatively cost hotels statewide $20 million to $50 million to purchase the fitted bed sheets and new equipment for laundering the sheets. There will even be additional labor costs: Fitted sheets are folded by hand while flat sheets are folded by a machine.

L.A. County hotels would spend perhaps $6.5 million just on sheets if the law is passed. That’s assuming hotels bought five fitted sheets at about $20 each for each of their estimated 65,000 rooms.

The bill was introduced in February by state Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles). SB 432, which would require hotels to use fitted sheets and provide long-handled tools such as mops so housekeepers don’t have clean bathrooms on their hands and knees. The state Senate approved the bill two weeks ago and it is currently being held in the assembly.

If it passes, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal/OSHA, would then have to adopt enforcement standards by September 2012. The new requirements would be enforced during Cal/OSHA’s normal course of inspecting hotels. If a hotel knowingly violates the requirement, it would be considered a misdemeanor and could result in a fine.

Numerous L.A. area hotels declined to comment on the bill because of concerns over labor relations.

Hyatt Hotels Corp., which operates the Andaz West Hollywood and Hyatt Regency Century Plaza among other hotels in Los Angeles County, said in a statement that the chain hasn’t seen any evidence that fitted sheets are more comfortable for housekeepers to use.

“As a matter of fact, many of our housekeepers have told us they prefer flat sheets because they require less effort to place on a bed,” the statement said. “And using flat sheets eliminates a step in the bed-making process.”

But Greg Hayes, communications director for de Leon, whose mother was a housekeeper, pointed to a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and backed by Unite Here, the labor union that represents hospitality workers nationwide. The study showed housekeepers have the highest injury rate of all hotel workers.

“If you look at the list of injuries these women often suffer from, it looks like a list of injuries of NFL players,” Hayes said.

Hayes said the bill wasn’t designed to micromanage hotel operators.

“We don’t want to burden these businesses,” Hayes said. “But we are saying, ‘The next time you place an inventory of sheets, make half of them fitted.’ And there should be no added costs to the hotel.”

The bill comes as the hotel industry is recovering from the recession. Occupancy rates in Los Angeles County rose to 74 percent in April, up from 70 percent the same month last year, according to the most recent data from San Francisco-based Colliers PKF Consulting USA. Three years ago the rate was 77 percent.

Jim Butler, a partner and chair of the global hospitality group at Century City law firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, said most hotels are facing pressure to invest in items such as new carpets or wallpaper after putting off such expenses during the downturn. So adding new sheets to the budget might be challenging. Also, fitted sheets would likely have to be purchased more often because the elastic wears out quickly.

“This is not a time of plenty, it is a time of scarcity,” Butler said. “The hotel industry has come out of the worst decline since people have been keeping records, but it’s not out of the bushes.”

Some hotels, including several Marriott properties in the greater L.A. area, already use fitted sheets.

Bed bugs

Critics of the bill said fitted sheets would make housekeepers’ jobs more difficult. That’s because when a housekeeper makes a bed, she typically lays two flat sheets and a blanket down at once and then lifts the mattress and tucks and folds the bed dressings together. But with a fitted sheet, the housekeeper would have to lift the mattress to get the sheet on all four corners and then lift the mattress again to put on the other dressings. Critics also note that housekeepers are now changing bed sheets less often because of environmentally friendly initiatives that give guests the option of using the same bed sheets during a stay.

“There is no sound industry-backed or scientific research that says fitted sheets reduce injuries,” said the Hotel Association’s Amano. “If it did, hotels would have done that a long time ago because they would have said, ‘We can’t have injured workers. We need to have healthy workers.’”

What’s more, industry insiders said some hotels already provide tools for housekeepers such as wedges, which are placed under a mattress to hold it up while the bed is being made.

But supporters of the bill, including Unite Here, argue it won’t take much time or money for a hotel to start ordering fitted sheets.

Leigh Shelton, a spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 11, said the union has seen the number of injured housekeepers rise in recent years as hotels have switched to more luxurious mattresses that are heavier to lift.

The bed sheet battle comes as some local hotels are in contract negotiations with Unite Here. For Andaz West Hollywood, the fight over fitted or flat plays into the union’s effort to negotiate new contracts for its workers and Hyatt workers nationwide.

Unite Here last year filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA against the Andaz over bedmaking-related injuries. The agency inspected the Andaz in November and issued a memorandum to the hotel in May. The memorandum stated that records showed on two separate occasions housekeepers were diagnosed with repetitive motion injuries from making beds. The agency suggested that the hotel should consider using fitted bed sheets and take other measures to avoid injuries.

Andaz was not cited for the injuries, but Shelton of Unite Here pointed to Cal/OSHA’s inspection as proof that housekeepers are getting injured.

“It’s time to implement some solutions to fix the problem as we are seeing from OSHA in the Andaz situation,” Shelton said.

Hyatt said in its statement that Unite Here’s charges against Hyatt hotels are being driven by contract negotiations.

“Unite Here is making false charges about our work environment in Hyatt properties that are currently trying to negotiate new union contracts for Hyatt associates, and in markets where the union’s main goal is to increase its membership,” Hyatt said. “In every instance so far, where Unite Here has made multiple safety complaints nationwide, other than minor record keeping, the complaints have been found to be without merit.”

But as the bed sheet brawl wages on, one industry insider said hotel operators could use the adoption of fitted sheets to improve their image and market it to customers.

“What I try to tell my clients is when issues come up that they might find unnecessary, burdensome or not useful, they should use it to their advantage,” said Jeff Lugosi, a senior vice president in the downtown L.A. office of Colliers PKF. “Sell it as a positive.”