The Westin LAX Hotel is among seven hotels that successfully sued to stop a city ordinance that would have granted a "living wage" to employees working at 13 hotels located near Los Angeles International Airport.

The suspended workers picketed outside the hotel and planned to discuss the situation during an afternoon news conference.

Officials with the Westin LAX Hotel did not return a phone call seeking comment.

On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe struck down the measure, ruling that the Los Angeles City Council attempted to evade the state's referendum law by repealing the first living wage ordinance, then adopting a similarly worded law a short time later.

In November, the City Council approved an ordinance requiring 13 hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay their employees $9.39 per hour with health insurance, or $10.64 an hour without benefits.

When hotel owners and business leaders began a petition drive to force the issue onto the ballot in hopes of overturning the measure, the council voted to rescind the ordinance to avoid a costly election.

On Feb. 21, the council approved a compromise living wage ordinance, restricting it to the dozen hotels near the airport and providing the hotels with economic incentives. The compromise was signed into law by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

City officials argued that the second measure was different because it called for the creation of an economic overlay zone for the dozen hotels surrounding LAX and allows for $1 million in streets improvements, $50,000 worth of marketing for the area and other incentives.

Hotel operators came out in opposition to the deal, arguing they generate less money than hotels elsewhere in the city, that the requirements would force the hotels to cut jobs and that the city was out of line to impose wages on private businesses.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs stopped the law from going into effect shortly after the passage of the second ordinance.

Janavs ruled that if the new and repealed ordinances are basically the same, the council would be bound by its repeal of the first law and could not bring it back for a year.

At that point, some City Council members began urging consumers to boycott the hotel.