Dealers at Wynn Las Vegas are in the midst of three legal battles: a class action lawsuit, a hearing with the labor commissioner, and a federal case with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
September 13, 2006, Wynn dealers filed a class action lawsuit against Wynn Las Vegas, LLC, Wynn Resorts Holdings, LLC, and Wynn Resorts Limited. The dealers' representatives include J.P. Kemp, Leon Greenberg, Mark Thierman, and Robin Potter.

December 6, 2006, Judge Douglas Herndon heard our case and dismissed it. He ruled that although our case may have merit, Wynn dealers have no private right to action to sue Wynn. Judge Herndon stated that only the Nevada Labor Commissioner, not the dealers, can take action against Wynn if Wynn is illegally taking the dealers'  tips.

We filed argued our right to appear in court at the Nevada Supreme Court on April 7, 2008. We are still awaiting the outcome. Listen to this streaming media for the audio of
the Supreme Court Hearing.

Keep up with the progress of court case number 06-a-528138 here. Also, read the original lawsuit, appeal, and amicus brief (written by Don Mello, an original author of NRS 608.160, supporting the Wynn dealers).

LABOR COMMISSIONER HEARING
September 11, 2006, more than 100 dealers filed anonymous complaints with labor commissioner, Michael Tanchek, about Wynn Las Vegas's violation of NRS 608.160. September 13, 2006, Tanchek's office released a statement saying: “Based on what we’ve seen, Wynn Resorts is not violating state law regarding tip pooling.” When Tanchek was questioned by the press as to why he failed to make a formal ruling, he said it was because the complaints were anonymous and no one had filed a wage loss claim form.

July 23, 2007, lawyers Lawrence Jay Litman and Cecil Hollins filed a formal complaint and a wage loss claim form on behalf of one dealer. Per Judge Herndon's ruling in the class action lawsuit, we dealers are trying to force labor commissioner, Michael Tanchek, into making a formal decision.

• State law NRS 608.160 declares it is unlawful for an employer to take the tips bestowed upon his employees.
• The legislators who authored the 1971 law NRS 608.160 wrote an amicus stating that Wynn Las Vegas is violating the intent of the law.
• In 1999 the labor commissioner’s office was called upon to rule on the exact same issue in 1999 at the Resort at Summerlin. The office’s reaction in 1999 was as follows: “Management can’t be involved in pool tipping at all. If (employees) wanted to include (management), that’s an agreement between tip earners only." In another newspaper article, the labor commissioner's office stated: "The initial pool tipping system must be established by the tip earners, not the employer."
• Although the above mentioned articles quoted Gail Maxwell of the labor commissioner's office, she claimed ignorance when asked about the 1999 case. On one occasion she claimed to have "lost" the pertinent documents and on another claimed to have "destroyed" the documents. She claimed to remember nothing. Gail Maxwell retired in the spring of 2007.

Wynn Las Vegas responded to the complaint and the labor commissioner the hearing date for March 19, 2008. The hearing has been continued based on the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (NLRB)
October 30, 2006, Steve Wynn called a handful of day shift dealers to an informal meeting. He entered the room wearing fake vampire teeth. Mr. Wynn threatened the dealers, telling them that if they voted in a union a strike would be imminent and all dealers would be fired. Some dealers filed complaints with the NLRB stating that Wynn Las Vegas had violated the National Labor Relations Act. Shortly thereafter one whistleblower was terminated and others were allegedly retaliated against.

December 28, 2006, the NLRB determined there was enough evidence to file a complaint against Wynn. The complaint was scheduled to go before an administrative law judge in February then rescheduled several times. The case was finally heard on July 30, 2007.

On December 31, 2007, Judge Burton Litvac reached a favorable decision for the dealers. Read the entire decision here. Below are direct quotes from the Judge's decision:

"In this regard, William Westbrook’s demeanor, while testifying, was that of an utterly disingenuous witness, and I am loath to accept significant aspects of his account of the events herein or of his disciplinary decision-making rationale."

"Wynn, who specifically denied the alleged threat and averred that he never would have uttered such a “ridiculous” statement, exhibited a haughty and insolent attitude while testifying, and, as a result, did not impress me with his demeanor.  In particular, I note his sardonic and disingenuous testimony that, notwithstanding having admittedly informed the listening dealers that a union’s only leverage is “a strike” and that, if they do strike, he would be “forced” to replace them just as he had previously done at the Golden Nugget to the valet parking employees, he believed the two women, whom, he noticed, were crying, had."

COMMITTEE TO PREVENT EMPLOYERS FROM SEIZING TIPS (PEST) LAWSUIT
Attorneys’ representing the committee to Prevent Employers from Seizing Tips (PEST) filed an Answer and Cross Complaint with the federal court and is now a matter of public record. It is not only an indictment against Wynn and co-complainants but also against the Nevada political and legal system and how they conduct business. This federal scrutiny and attention brought on by Wynn is not going to be appreciated.

Attorney Kermitt Waters is going to federal court to have the single-subject law thrown out. Read his motion here.