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Cynthia
Fields looks younger than her 39 years and has
15 years of experience
as a highly rated dealer and casino manager at
upscale casinos.
But Fields
has discovered what many in the casino business
have learned after they've been fired from their
jobs: It can be tough to get back into the game.
The story
about how Fields was dismissed from her dealer
job at Wynn Las Vegas in early January is legend
in casinos in Las Vegas. She is the woman who
dared to challenge casino boss Steve Wynn with
the claim that he violated federal labor law by
threatening to fire her and other dealers if
they joined a union.
Fields has
risen to the ranks of hero in some workers'
minds - a distinction that she fears is now
hurting her job prospects.
"I'll have
a great interview and then they'll do the
background check," said Fields, who remains
jobless and is receiving unemployment benefits.
"They'll see I was terminated from my last job."
Casinos
deny that they blacklist employees. And a casino
that refuses to hire someone who was terminated
under a cloud of suspicion elsewhere may be
acting prudently.
Fields,
who is among several dealers who have feuded
with a Wynn policy to include supervisors in tip
pools, says she is now a marked woman.
"I had
never been in trouble before," Fields said. "But
I will not be threatened or intimidated. I won't
back down - and I think (casino supervisors) are
afraid of that."
Fields
took the unusual step of filing a complaint with
the National Labor Relations Board, which
regulates union activity in the workplace, even
before the union drive at Wynn Las Vegas was in
full swing. (Six months later, in May, dealers
voted to be represented by the Transport Workers
Union by a 3-to-1 margin.)
It was
after Fields filed her complaint with the NLRB
that she was fired. She added her termination as
ammunition to her existing complaint.
Fields was
among several Wynn dealers to take complaints to
the National Labor Relations Board. It found her
complaint had merit, and testimony before a
federal administrative law judge concluded last
week. A decision isn't expected for at least a
month. And yet, any success in federal court
will go only so far.
A ruling
favorable to Fields could award her back wages
and require Wynn to re instate her. It could
require the casino to issue a notice forbidding
bosses from threatening workers. But that's of
little help to her colleagues because it
wouldn't require Wynn to roll back the tip
policy.
Her case
stems from an October meeting with 15 dealers,
called by Wynn to explain the new tip sharing
policy - a move that would cut dealers' annual
earnings by at least 10 percent.
In that
meeting, Wynn allegedly yelled at the dealers,
threatening to fire them for trying to organize
and slamming his fist so hard on the table that
it knocked over a bottle of water.
Gathering
employees in a room to intimidate them is not
illegal. Nor is it illegal to tell workers why
they shouldn't join a union. And it's not
illegal to fire a worker for the way he combs
his hair. But threatening to terminate workers
or lower their wages for union organizing, as
Fields alleges, crosses the line.
In
January, after the supposed confrontation
between Wynn and the group of dealers, and after
she filed her complaint with the labor board,
Fields claims , she received a negative
performance evaluation by a "secret shopper"
posing as a gambler. She was so rattled by the
review, believing it was crafted in retaliation
for having filed her complaint with the labor
board, she burst into tears.
She says
she was too upset to return to work, so she went
to the scheduling window to arrange for someone
to cover her shift. She claims the scheduler was
sympathetic and agreed she could go home. She
handed in her uniform, got a freshly pressed one
for the next day, retrieved her belongings from
her locker and left.
Casino
supervisors rebutted her in court, saying the
supervisor wasn't authorized to permit her to
leave. The supervisor said Fields wasn't seeking
permission so much as demanding to exit the
premises. She was suspended, then terminated,
for "walking off the job."
The
National Labor Relations Board, representing
Fields, produced witnesses backing up her claim.
But testimony on behalf of Wynn challenged her
account, and the case has turned into a he-said,
she-said version of events.
While the
hearing judge mulls the case, Fields says ,
she's been unable to land a new job.
Casino
employment attorney Mark Ricciardi isn't
familiar with Fields' case but questions her
suspicion that employers won't hire her because
she spoke up at her last job.
"I'm not
sure that's believable in this market, where
people need employees," he said. "I think that
many employers will look at the entire picture
rather than have a knee-jerk reaction to a
termination."
Employers
can be liable for refusing to hire someone
because the person, at his previous job,
exercised his right to file a labor complaint or
organize a union, he added.
In most
cases, employers can fire workers for the most
innocuous of reasons - or for no reason at all.
Firing someone in tears who states she is
leaving for the day - a woman who by all
accounts was an exemplary employee prior to that
final review - is rough treatment. Unless the
government can convince a judge it is linked to
her labor complaint, it's also perfectly legal.
And it's
among the many reasons many casino workers
choose to avoid a fight.
Liz Benston can be reached at
259-4077 or at
benston@lasvegassun.com.
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