Casino worker tip sharing may be issue of Nevada Legislature
By Cy Ryan, Las Vegas Sun
CARSON CITY — A Las Vegas assemblyman says the policy of some casinos to force table games dealers to share tips with others isn’t fair, and he wants the 2013 Legislature to examine the issue.
Assemblyman Joseph Hogan, D-Las Vegas, calls tip-sharing an “inappropriate intrusion” on what dealers earn from players. Tips are a large part of income for dealers who are paid minimum wage, he said.
The controversy is currently before the Supreme Court and, according to briefs, some dealers earn $100,000, including tips.
Hogan asked that a bill regarding tip-sharing be drafted last week.
Tip-sharing has resulted six-year legal battle between dealers at Wynn casinos in Las Vegas. Dealers lost an appeal to state Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek in July 2010 but won a suit before District Court Judge Kenneth Cory.
Cory ruled that dealers could launch a class-action lawsuit.
In September 2006, the Wynn casinos adopted the present tip-sharing policy, which it maintains has been endorsed in a collective bargaining arrangement by the dealers.
But a suit by casino employees Daniel Baldonado, Joseph Cesarz and Ouyngoc Tang challenges the policy that allows tips to be shared by the box person at the craps tables and with “casino service team leads.”