Ken Ritter - The Associated Press
A union representing more than 60,000 hotel cleaners, waiters and doormen is backing a lawsuit that alleges one of Nevada's largest private employers broke state law because
it failed to rehire employees it laid off two years ago
. due to closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Culinary Union representatives said Tuesday that the civil lawsuit filed in state court by 76 non-union hospitality workers alleges that
Station Casinos has committed a "flagrant violation" of the state's "right to return to work" law. "
that was backed by the union and passed by the Legislature last year.
"They are demanding the right to be rehired and reinstated in the jobs they are qualified for," Ted Pappageorge, the union's secretary and treasurer, told reporters at a Culinary Union hall in Las Vegas.
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"They can't throw you away like an old shoe, or like garbage," the union leader said.
"We are human beings who have not been treated fairly," said Barbara Tivas, a caterer for nearly 13 years at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, who explained that she has not been rehired.
She was one of five plaintiffs who spoke during the meeting.
Pappageorge said that Station Casinos is the third largest private employer in Nevada.
A worker at Caesars Palace repairs a slot machine in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 21, 2020. John Locher / AP
Station Casinos officials declined to say how many people the company employs.
For years, the union has waged a noisy and at times acrimonious battle to unionize employees at Red Rock Resorts Inc., a publicly traded company whose subsidiary is Station Casinos.
Station Casinos operates nine major hotel-casinos and 10
bar, restaurant and sportsbook properties in and around Las Vegas.
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Union rallies and marches are common, with leaders accusing the company of misusing its position as an employer to influence voting.
That claim won support from the National Labor Relations Board in 2020 and a federal appeals court panel last November, after
union leaders accused Red Rock of undermining the December 2019 union election
by improving benefits .
health and retirement accounts just a few days before the vote.
US District Judge Gloria Navarro in Las Vegas also
ordered the company not to threaten, discipline or interfere with employees
for their union membership or support.
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In a statement issued Tuesday, the company derided the new lawsuit as "the latest in a series of empty publicity stunts" intended to "harass and intimidate" the company.
"All of this noise is designed to distract from the fact that the Culinary Union failed its members," the company statement said, pointing to union reports stating that 98% of union members were fired when casinos they closed statewide in mid-March 2020.
The union said 80% of those people have been rehired since the casinos began reopening
in early June 2020, but thousands of people have had to look for new jobs.
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Pappageorge alleged Tuesday that Station Casinos held job fairs to attract new employees just days before the Nevada law went into effect on July 1.
The protections under the law will expire on August 31.
California is another state with rehire rules, and Culinary Union researchers identified similar policies in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia and Providence, Rhode Island.
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Paul Sonn, director of the state policy program at the National Employment Law Project in New York, said the measures "
help protect older workers, black and Latino workers, and workers who stand up for their rights
and ensure that Employers don't use pandemic rehire laws as a way to get rid of them."
"Especially in Las Vegas, where the trend is to hire younger and more attractive staff, these safeguards are especially important," Sonn said in a statement.