La Plata, MD – The Charles County Liquor Board dressed down and then proceeded to penalize Waldorf Courtyard by Marriott owner Paresh Karshan Patel for what they considered lax alcohol training policies regarding new employees Thursday, Aug. 13.

The board closed the hotel’s bistro for 20 days and fined them $2,500. They also held an additional 10 days in abeyance.

Two recent employees, Aja Young and Dominique Brown, neither of whom had yet attended alcohol training when they were hired in May, served a 12-ounce Bud Light to an underage cadet and never asked to see identification.

Manager Kristen Oswald told the board that new employees receive the training within a 30-day period and neither had received the training when the incident occurred. She said the bistro has a 100 percent ID policy.

“Ms. Young had just started,” she said. “Training for Ms. Brown was a month away.”

Brown told the board there were only five people working at the hotel bistro and that she and Young were in the kitchen when the cook came in the kitchen and told them to take the customer’s order.

This was not the establishment’s first appearance in a show cause hearing. Prior violations occurred in 2010 and 2012.

Charles County Alcoholic and Beverage Board Chair Pamela Smith gave Patel and Oswald a scathing rebuke.

“This establishment has been one problem after the other,” Smith said. “You have someone out on the floor with no training, no guidance, selling alcohol.”

“We do provide training,” Oswald countered.

“Way too late,” Smith retorted. “Management is falling down on the job. And you’re the management.”

“You set Miss Brown up for failure,” Board Member William Young told Patel and Oswald. “She was thrown out there. It’s terrible management,” he said.

Young proposed fining the establishment $2,500 and 30 days of closure, which was debated down to 20 days, but Young said the board would hold the other 10 days in abeyance and they could be placed in effect if the business didn’t clean up its act.

“If you come before this board again, you’re in danger of having your liquor license revoked,” Young stated.

“You have a real problem,” Smith said. “You failed wholesale. You put people out on the floor who didn’t know the rules. Marriott gave you the tools, you’re just not using them.”

Patel was told that he would have a 10-day grace period to put new policies in place but must surrender the license Aug. 24 to begin serving the 10-day penalty.

Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com