California’s labor commissioner on Tuesday slapped the Anaheim Marriott with more than $12 million in fines for failing to try to rehire workers who were laid off during the pandemic.

The hotel did not properly offer jobs to 28 former employees, including bell attendants, engineers, landscapers and lead cooks, according to the office of Lilia García-Brower, the state labor commissioner.

The $12.45-million penalty comes under California’s “right to recall” law, which requires employers in hospitality and building services industries to first offer workers who were let go during the pandemic the chance to return when job openings become available.

The labor commissioner’s office said it launched its investigation of the Anaheim Marriott in June 2022 after Unite Here Local 11, a union representing hospitality workers, submitted reports alleging the hotel had violated the recall law by using staffing agencies to make hires.

The investigation found that the hotel, which reopened in 2021 after shutting down amid the pandemic, failed to offer back jobs to long-serving employees, or offered employees their jobs back belatedly after hiring others. Some of the affected employees had worked with the company for as many as 40 years.

“Failure to rehire long-serving employees is not just a violation of the law, but a violation of trust these workers had in their employer after years of dedicated and loyal service. This citation reflects our commitment to holding violators accountable and ensuring that workers’ rights are protected,” García-Brower said in an emailed statement.

Representatives for Marriott could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

The law allows damages of $500 per worker for each day the employer does not follow recall rights called for under the law. In the Anaheim Marriott case, the state determined there had been 21,753 total days of violations, according to the citation.

The fine issued to the Anaheim Marriott is the largest levied so far under the law. The citation holds Marriott Hotel Services Inc., Marriott Hotel Services LLC and Marriott International Inc. jointly liable for the violations.

The state issued its first right-to-recall citation in March 2022, to Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, ordering $3.3 million in fines. Terranea appealed the fines, saying the law was vaguely worded. In July that year, the upscale hotel reached a settlement with the state, agreeing to pay $1.52 million without admitting wrongdoing.

In October 2023, the state fined Hyatt Regency Long Beach $4.8 million for failing to offer jobs in a timely manner to 25 employees, including restaurant servers, bartenders, housekeepers, cashiers and stewards.

The right-to-recall law, Senate Bill 93, went into effect in spring 2021 and was intended to end Dec. 31 this year. Last year, lawmakers approved SB 723, which extends the protections for employees in the hospitality and building services industries until the end of 2025.

The Happiest Place on Earth is getting a little more expensive.

Starting Wednesday, Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort is increasing pricing on most of its park tickets for attendees 10 and older. The price of its lowest-tier offering — a one-day, one-park ticket for a less crowded weekday — will remain the same at $104. (Disneyland Resort ticket prices vary depending on the day and consumer demand.)

Pricing for all other one-day, one-park tickets on more popular days as well as multiday one-park tickets will increase between 5.9% and 6.5%. For instance, the highest-priced one-day, one-park ticket now will cost $206, up $12 or 6.2% from its previous price of $194. A two-day ticket will cost $330, up $20 or 6.5%.

Disneyland officials said pricing is continually adjusted to balance demand, optimize attendance and reflect the value attendees get at the parks.

“There is nothing like a visit to Disneyland Resort,” Disneyland Resort spokesperson Jessica Good said in a statement. “We always provide a wide variety of ticket, dining and hotel options, and promotional offers throughout the year, to welcome as many families as possible.”

Disneyland Resort also is increasing prices for its Magic Key annual pass program, which is currently only available for renewal and paused for new sales. (Disneyland officials said another opportunity to join the pass program will open up later this year.)

Prices for the four different passes increased by either $100 or $125. For instance, the lowest-priced Imagine Key now will cost $599, up $100. The next level pass, called the Enchant Key, is now $974, an increase of $125.

Magic Key pass holders get additional perks, such as being among the first to ride the new attraction Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and getting a special gift in honor of the ride’s opening. They’ll also get a bigger discount on the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, formerly known as the Genie+ line-skipping service, during certain times of the year. That service also increased in price from $30 to $32 for attendees who prebuy the perk.

Parking prices will remain the same.

The pricing increases come as the Walt Disney Co. faces weakening consumer demand at its parks unit.

Long the engine that bolstered the Burbank media and entertainment giant’s coffers, Disney’s so-called Experiences division reported operating income of $2.2 billion, down 3% from last year, in its most recent quarterly earnings report. That division includes Disney’s theme parks, as well as its cruise line, merchandise and travel and leisure services such as its Aulani resort and spa in Hawaii.

Disneyland officials said the company has continued to invest in its parks to increase value for guests, including seasonal celebrations, special character interactions, food offerings and a new queue at the Haunted Mansion that is set to debut soon. They said consumer satisfaction with the parks remains high.

L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors took its first major step Tuesday toward buying Gas Company Tower, one of the most prominent office skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles.

The looming purchase could move workers and public services out of existing county offices, including the well-known Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which dates to 1960. The building is one of roughly 33 county-owned facilities that engineers say are vulnerable to collapse during a major earthquake.

The supervisors voted 3-1 to let the county’s Chief Executive Office move forward with the purchase, which they said cannot exceed $200 million. The board will need to vote again before the deal is finalized.

Supervisor Janice Hahn voted against the purchase, telling her colleagues she was concerned about the fate of the downtown civic center if the Hall of Administration shut down. The building is named after her father, longtime Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

“I know there’s a tendency to jump on real estate deals,” she said. “We have to think bigger.”

Supervisor Hilda Solis abstained from the vote, saying she wanted to see “a more comprehensive and practical plan” to address the county’s aging buildings before giving her support. She also noted that the county had already sunk about $25 million into a plan to make the Hall of Administration seismically safe and still had several buildings downtown in need of upgrades, including Men’s Central Jail.

“I want to make sure that we know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into before committing any funding to this purchase,” she said.

The proposed price is a deep discount from the building’s appraised value of $632 million in 2020, underscoring how much downtown office values have fallen in recent years.

After selling last year for $110 million, Union Bank Plaza on Figueroa Street sold again recently for just $80 million, or $114 per square foot, according to real estate data provider CoStar. Another downtown high-rise tower at 777 S. Figueroa St. recently sold for $120 million, or $115 per square foot.

At $200 million, the county would get the Gas Company Tower for about $137 a square foot, still a bargain by historical standards.

“All these prices are a massive discount from only three years ago, when 915 Wilshire Blvd. traded for over $500 a foot,” said real estate broker Kevin Shannon of Newmark, who helped arrange the Union Bank Plaza sale to the Southwest Carpenters Pension Trust. “The world has changed.”

It makes sense for entities like the county and the Carpenters Pension Trust to buy their own buildings because they can lock in their occupancy costs long term, Shannon said.

The 52-story tower at 555 W. 5th St. was widely considered one of the city’s most prestigious office buildings when it was completed in 1991. It has nearly 1.5 million square feet of space on a 1.4-acre site at the base of Bunker Hill.

In recent years, the downtown office market has turned against landlords as many tenants reduced their office footprint in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became more common for employees to work remotely.

Last year, the owner of the Gas Company Tower, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, defaulted on its debt and the property was put in receivership, in which a court-appointed representative took custody of the building to help creditors recover funds they lent to Brookfield. The building has about $465 million in outstanding loans.

Elevated interest rates have weighed on prices by making it difficult for building owners to refinance debt and pushing them into quick sales or foreclosures. Some downtown L.A. office tenants have left for other local office centers including Century City over concerns that the streets are less safe than before the pandemic.

Southern California Gas Co. said last month it is planning to move from its longtime headquarters in its namesake tower, where it has been a primary tenant since the building was completed, and move a block north to another skyscraper, at 350 S. Grand Ave.

The utility signed a long-term lease for nearly 200,000 square feet on eight floors in the Grand Avenue building on Bunker Hill often known as Two California Plaza, its new landlord said, and is expected to move by spring 2026 after building out the new offices. The Gas Company will also have an office on the ground floor to serve customers.

Other major tenants in the Gas Company Tower include law firm Latham & Watkins and accounting firm Deloitte.

The building is in good condition with “a remaining useful life” of no less than 35 years, according to a recent property condition report prepared for the current owner that was obtained by The Times.

The report also said the tower and parking garage need about $1.3 million to address urgently needed repairs and deferred maintenance. Additional long-term costs to maintain and modernize the properties were estimated at about $48.7 million over 12 years. Projected costs include roof repairs, refurbishing air conditioning systems and updating the elevators.

Seismic engineers are conducting an “in-depth evaluation” of how the building would respond in a major earthquake to determine whether the Gas Company Tower, the fifth-tallest member of the downtown skyline, has vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, an L.A. County spokesperson said last month.

“Those issues are exactly what we are exploring through our due diligence,” the county said in a statement. “Without getting ahead of the work currently underway, one factor is assessing how this building would perform compared to the performance of the Hall of Administration, and the respective costs of each approach.”