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Dealers
group to protest Resort policy
The Nevada Casino
Dealers Association wants state
officials to address its opposition to tip sharing.
Thursday, August 19, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Hubble Smith
Review-Journal
Tony Badillo isn't satisfied with the answer he received
from interim Labor Commissioner Gail Maxwell on a policy at the
Resort at Summerlin that requires dealers to share their tips with
floormen. Badillo, president of the Nevada Casino Dealers Association, wants
either the State Labor Commission or the State Gaming Control
Board, or both agencies, to request an opinion from the attorney
general's office on the issue.
The dealers association is protesting the resort's policy
of forcing dealers to share their tips with individuals who
perform a management function and who are not themselves tip
earners.
"They're taking dealers and putting them on the floor and
(still) paying them dealers' wages," said Jack Lipsman, vice
president of the association and a 24-year dealer at the Flamingo.
"Instead of $18 an hour, they're paying them $7.75 and
subsidizing the lower wages with tips. That's the rub."
Lipsman said no other casino in the state does this.
"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 dealers' tips," Badillo and Lipsman
wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Labor Commissioner Terry Johnson and
Gaming Control Board Chairman Steve DuCharme. "Furthermore, it is our belief that a
continuation and spread of this policy will have a negative effect
on the entire industry."
There are about 50,000 dealers in Nevada, according to the
association.
Jim Fonseca, chief operating officer for the resort,
defended the tip-pool policy. He said it complies with Nevada
Revised Statute 608.160, which specifically prohibits employers
from reaping a benefit from employee tips.
"My understanding from Maxwell's letter is that our tip pool
is perfectly legal," he said. "I mean, we wouldn't do
something if it wasn't legal. It took us two years to get a gaming
license. We wouldn't jeopardize that."
Fonseca said he's heard no complaints from Resort staff about the
skill-based program that groups dealers and floormen as
"casino hosts" and effectively gives them the
opportunity to learn all areas of the job. "We've
spoken to the labor commissioner and we've been advised by our
Nevada attorneys. It seems to be clear-cut for me. It's a little
like flogging a dead horse at this point."
Badillo said Maxwell missed the point. He knows it's the
law to pool tips with fellow dealers. He did it for 40 years at
the Sands. He contends floormen and pit supervisors are part of management,
usually paid $125 to $195 a shift. They open and close the games,
bring in the fills when chip supply dwindles, monitor play and
recommend comps. He cites three court cases that support his
argument -- Alford vs. Harold's Club; Moen vs. Las
Vegas International Hotel; and Cotter vs. Desert Palace. They were
decided, respectively, in the Nevada Supreme Court, the U.S.
District Court in Las Vegas and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
in San Francisco.
"If we go to court, we might end up embarrassing both
the gaming control board and the labor commission on this,"
Badillo said.
This story was
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