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International Union of Gaming
Employees
P.O. Box 71961
Las Vegas, Nevada 89170
(702) 474-9766 · Fax (702) 386-4821
November 13, 2006
Mr. Dennis K. Neilander, Chairman
State Gaming Control Board
555 East
Washington Avenue
Las Vegas,
Nevada 89101
Dear Mr. Neilander:
The International Union of Gaming Employees
(IUGE) is hereby submitting a formal complaint against the
Wynn Las Vegas in that they have willfully violated
Regulation 5 (Operating of Gaming Establishments) and have
caused disruption and unrest of the casino dealers by
effecting a change in their toke policy in violation of
the Wynn Table Games Operations Department Handbook –
Dealers, Revised 3/7/05.
Section 1.11.2 specifies that the toke
process applies only to dealers.
It specifically states that supervisors are
prohibited from accepting
tokes.
Section 1.11.3 states that all table
game dealers will pool all tokes together.
Section 1.11.9 clearly states that any
changes or additions to the existing toke policies must be
approved by a vote process.
In September 2006 Wynn-Las Vegas issued
a seven page change to the “Table Game Operation Handbook,
titled Business Processes- Table Games,” in which the
rules and procedures governing toke entitlement and
sharing were totally and completely changed by allowing
Wynn management to confiscate upwards of 15 to 20% of
dealer’s tokes and use this money to subsidize their floor
supervisors salaries. These changes violate Section
1.11.9, which states that a vote is required to change
existing toke policies.
It should be noted that the taking of
tips earned by one group of employees and using them to
pay another group of workers is unprecedented and because
the Wynn Handbook constitutes an implied contract between
Wynn Las Vegas and their employees, the disregard of
Sections 1.11.2, 1.11.3 and 1.11.9 constitute a continuing
breach of contract in which the repetition of the
continuing act of taking dealer’s tokes causes cumulative
injury to the dealers from the time the taking began until
such time as the taking of dealer’s tokes ceases and the
policy is abandoned. In addition, this unilateral change
in toke policy is causing, and will continue to cause
turmoil, trepidation and unrest amongst the casino dealers
and has proven to be detrimental to the “good order and
general welfare of the inhabitants of the State of
Nevada,” as stated in Regulation 5.
This change in policy essentially takes
tokes earned by dealers and uses them to subsidize Wynn’s
payroll for the floor people and supervisors and thereby
benefit the Wynn bottom line at the expense of the
dealers. They attempt to justify this by redefining the
traditional interaction between the customer and the
dealer, to one now being performed by a newly created
“Team”. This is simply a semantic trick to justify a money
grab. This is no more or no less than a rewriting of
Nevada’s history and the creation of a weakness in the
integrity of the table game oversight doctrine which has
worked so well for Nevada for more than seven decades.
Based on these facts and data we
therefore emphatically request that an investigation be
conducted to determine whether Wynn Las Vegas should be
allowed to continue to disrupt and circumvent the good
order and general welfare of the inhabitants of the State
of Nevada as put forth in Regulation 5.
Sincerely
Tony Badillo, President
Jack Lipsman, Vice President
International Union of Gaming
Employees
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