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NCDA requests review of
State's decision
August 11, 1999
Via Fax(486-2660&486-2045) & Certified Mail
Terry Johnson, Commissioner
State Labor Commission
and
Mr. Steve DuCharme, Chairman
State Gaming Control Board
555 E. Washington Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89101
RE: The Resort At Summerlin tip policy
Attachment: Resort At Summerlin letter, dated August 5, 1999
Dear Mr. Johnson & Mr. DuCharme:
We have received Ms. Maxwell’s letter, dated July 30,
1999, and wish to thank her for the prompt reply. Unfortunately,
certain issues raised by the Resort At Summerlin policy have not
been specifically addressed in her response.
In our July 27th letter we took no issue with the practice of
tip-pooling, and find the question of whether or not an employee
is "at-will" to be irrelevant to our complaint.
Tip-pooling is used in all casinos throughout the state and, in
our opinion, benefits all concerned; the dealers, the casinos and
the state. Yet, in your letter you make the point, "…NRS
608.160 did not bar the employer from imposing a tip-pooling
agreement…" That was never an issue!
The thrust of our protest is two-fold:
1. Resort At Summerlin management is forcing dealers to share
their tips with
individuals who perform a management function and who are not
themselves
tip-earners.
2. Resort At Summerlin is reaping a benefit from this practice by
paying floormen
$7.75/hour instead of the customary $18.00/hour , and subsidizing
this lower wage with dealer’s tips.
The letter also noted that in "Alford v. Harold’s
Club" the court ruled that Harold’s
Club did not reap a collateral benefit even though it enjoyed
higher employee morale and lower employee turnover. That statement
was extrapolated into the conclusion that, "…The direct
benefit of paying a lesser amount would, in all likelihood,
(emphasis added) be deemed such a collateral benefit."
It is that conclusion which, we feel, stretches credulity
to the breaking point. To
equate employee morale and turnover rate to confiscating
dealer’s tips and
distributing them to management is not what the court intended to
convey, for if they had, they would have said so.
On the second point, to say that Resort At Summerlin does not reap
a benefit by
paying floormen $7.75/hour instead of $18.00/hour is to revoke the
laws of
mathematics. NRS 608.160 and case law specifically prohibits
employers from reaping a benefit from employees tips.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. DuCharme, there are three additional
items we ask you to
consider:
1. The Gaming Control Board’s action re. the Barbary Coast in
1979.
2. Summerlin’s threat letter to the NCDA.
3. NLRB interest in the case.
The Barbary Coast.- In 1979 the Barbary Coast instituted a policy
to have all casino management, namely floormen, pit managers,
shift supervisors, and unbelievably even the casino owners
themselves, receive a share of dealer’s tips. In an attempt to
deceive and to keep the recipient’s identity anonymous, all
management tip envelopes were identified not by a name, but simply
by a number. However, the Gaming control Board, much to their
credit, put an immediate end to that unlawful policy. The
situation at the Resort At Summerlin today is comparable to that
of the Barbary Coast 20 years ago. What applied then, should apply
today. The practice should stop.
Resort At Summerlin Threat Letter to the NCDA.- We are
enclosing a copy of a
letter we received from Resort At Summerlin as Attachment (1). We
know that the charges we made about the Resort At Summerlin policy
were made in good faith and made solely for the purpose of
safeguarding dealer’s tips. Furthermore, it is our belief that a
continuation and spread of this policy will have a negative effect
on the entire industry. Instead of seeking advice from others in
the industry regarding their policy, to which they are the
solitary adherents, they chose to attack and threaten us for
bringing them to your attention. The very fact that the NLRB, a
federal agency, and three state agencies decided to examine the
Resort At Summerlin policy based on our allegations would seem to
refute their charge that we were "disparaging" towards
them. They then stated that if we, "…continue to
communicate…" what we feel is our opinion they will
take, "….other remedies…". We wonder if that threat
would have had us desist from sending the very letter you are now
reading. It seems to us that instead of trying to find a
reasonable solution to this dispute they go into the attack mode,
further reducing their options.
NLRB Involvement.- Last week we met with Nathan Albright,
an NLRB field
attorney, to discuss the Resort At Summerlin policy. He raised the
point that by
Resort At Summerlin changing the job titles of dealers and
floormen to that of "casino host" they may be, in
effect, denying that group of dealers the right to organize,
should they choose to do so. This reclassification device used by
Summerlin to save payroll dollars, may also provide them with the
added benefit of making their casino union-proof. This is a
violation of federal regulations and therefore, a violation of
Nevada’s Regulation 5.011.8.
If the Resort At Summerlin is as genuinely interested in training
and advancing their employees as they say they are, they should be
willing to abide by Nevada’s gaming laws and regulations, as
well as accepted gaming practice.
They should:
1. pay floormen the customary wages, which range from $125/shift
to $195/shift, when they are working as floormen, and not give
them a share of tips unless agreed to by a dealer’s vote;
2. discontinue any practice which would provide a benefit to the
employer at the
expense of dealer’s tips.
Based on the above arguments, we ask that both you, Mr. Johnson,
and you Mr.
DuCharme, formally request an Attorney General Opinion regarding
Resort At
Summerlin actions on the tip issue. We would then ask, based on
the results of the AGO, for you both to re-examine your respective
positions on this matter. We look forward to hearing from you in
the near future.
Respectfully,
Tony Badillo, President
Jack M. Lipsman, Vice President
Nevada Casino Dealers Association
Nevada Casino Dealers Association
Cc: Kirk D. Hendrick, Chief Deputy AG
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Las Vegas Sun
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