Dealers Lose Tips

A pair of Las Vegas dealers from the Wynn Casino filed a class action lawsuit back in 2006. On October 9th, they lost their case before the Nevada Supreme Court. They wanted to end tip-pooling, a program implemented at the casino.

The court was unanimous in deciding that the Nevada labor commission is the appropriate person to review complaints under the state’s labor laws. This decision was upheld by a lower court, returning the disagreement to the labor commissioner. The two dealers, Daniel Baldonado and Joseph Cesarz, believe that the Wynn violated state law with regards to tip pooling when Management was allowed to share in the tips. The dealers stated that this lawsuit was filed on behalf of the over 500 dealers now affected by this change to the tip-pooling program.

Justice Michael Douglas wrote that the dispute over the new policy does not belong in the court. The court found that the employer can modify the employment terms because the dealers are at-will employees. This would disallow any breach of contract based on the new tipping scheme.

Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek said this after reading the decision, “I'm going to have to get everybody together and see where they want to go next.”

The dealer’s attorneys said that the Supreme Court did not decide on the merits of the case, they just kicked it back the labor commissioner. One of the attorneys, Leon Greenberg, called it a “purely procedural issue” and stated “We will continue with our efforts on behalf of the Wynn dealers. No determination was made as to whether the Wynn tip policy is illegal or proper under Nevada law. We expect that this dispute will proceed and eventually be determined on its merits."

Officials from the Wynn declined to comment.

Baldonado says his pay has decreased almost 14.5% since this new policy was implemented. He is concerned that if the labor commissioner rules against them that this policy will spread to all casinos.