Casino high heel policies targeted

David Strow

Friday, Feb. 11, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

A coalition of activist groups is launching a campaign to get Nevada casinos to drop policies requiring cocktail waitresses to wear high heels.

Three groups -- the Nevada Empowered Women's Project, the Alliance for Worker's Rights and Planned Parenthood -- say appearance doesn't justify the health risks the shoes pose to women.

They're conducting a survey of Nevada waitresses and physicians to find out the consequences of long-term heel use -- and armed with these findings, hope to force the casinos to end a mandatory high heel policy, voluntarily or not.

"We are finding out that women do want a choice," said Marci Wehry Harper, director of the Nevada Empowered Women's Project. "We've found a lot of support for this campaign. There are long-term health risks to the back, neck and feet.

"All doctors say the heel needs to be 1 inch or less to prevent damage."

So far, 50 women have responded to the survey, though the goal is 1,000 waitresses. The average heel height is between 2 and 3 inches -- and all of the women responding say the heels are mandatory, Harper said.

But it's not going to be an easy sell to the gaming industry. Bob Ostrovsky, a lobbyist with the Nevada Resort Association, thinks it's much to do about nothing.

"Most cocktail waitresses on the Strip ... the vast majority are represented by the Culinary Union," Ostrovsky said. "I've been involved in negotiations since 1973. Quite frankly, I don't ever recall the union bringing forward a proposal to limit this shoe style.

"That's the kind of thing that would have come up in negotiations."

And one cocktail waitress said the shoes are a part of the identity of waitresses across Las Vegas.

"I think they just make the uniform look better," said Elizabeth Gomez, a cocktail waitress at the Orleans hotel-casino. "It's Las Vegas, where people want to see cocktail waitresses that look nice."

Painful days

For 21 years, Wanda Henry was a Las Vegas cocktail waitress and wore high heels much of that time.

Walking miles a day in high heels, she said, can be agonizing.

"(Waitresses) sometimes go home with blood in their shoes," said Henry, who is now director of operations for Culinary Union Local 226. "You can hardly walk to the parking lot at the end of the day sometimes.

"It's always been a problem. It's always someone saying, 'Put them in high heels, whether you can wear them or not.' "

How much pain a woman suffers from heels varies. Gomez, for example, said pain really isn't an issue.

"I'd say they're fairly comfortable," she said. "You just get used to them. They haven't caused me any problems."

It's a touchy topic for most casinos, and most won't discuss it. One exception is Mirage Resorts Inc.

Alan Feldman, spokesman for Mirage, said the company's standard uniform for a cocktail waitress is a 2-inch heel. But women do have the option to wear something different for health reasons, Feldman said.

"There are standards that apply principally to avoid having people wearing things that are dangerous," Feldman said. "We may have cocktail waitresses who may be pregnant, or trying to protect their back. We're pretty flexible about that ... as long as it conforms to certain fashion standards."

The one requirement Mirage's resorts do enforce, Feldman said, is that the shoe have a closed toe. Open-toed shoes are banned.

But women in other casinos also have that kind of choice, Ostrovsky insists.

"Properties comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act," Ostrovsky said. "If a woman has a medical reason not to wear those shoes, she would then be accommodated with some other kind of shoe, based on the medical condition."

Harper doubts that's made clear to cocktail waitresses.

"What we're finding out is that the perception of employees is that it's a requirement to have a job," Harper said. "I'm not sure employees are aware if they have a problem with high heels that they could get that accommodation."

It is an issue the union has dealt with repeatedly, Henry said, though the Culinary has no plans to become involved in the current initiative.

Instead, the union deals with the issue on a resort-by-resort basis, usually after members complain about an excessive high heel policy, Henry said.

"We tend to reflect back to our membership," Henry said. "If (the union were to become involved in the current initiative), it would be because our members are saying, 'We feel strongly about this and we want to be a part of it.' "

A medical debate>

One of the most debated issues is whether high heels actually represent a medical problem. On this issue, physicians are hardly in agreement. Some call heels a medical scourge to women, while others say women are actually better off wearing them, so long as the heels aren't too high.

National and international studies have been released branding the heels a common cause of medical problems among women. In the British medical journal the Lancet, a group of Massachusetts researchers blamed high heels for knee arthritis among women -- an ailment twice as common among women as men.

A pamphlet released by the American Podiatric Medical Association said women have four times as many foot problems as men, and said "lifelong patterns of wearing high heels are often the culprit."

"(Podiatrists) believe them to be biomechanically unsound, citing medical, postural and safety faults of such heels," the pamphlet said. "High heels may contribute to knee and back problems, disabling injuries in falls, shortened calf muscles and an awkward, unnatural gait."

But the same pamphlet suggests many women wouldn't ditch the shoes, even if a choice is available. A Gallup poll once found that 37 percent of women would continue to wear high heels, even if they were uncomfortable.

A Las Vegas chiropractor said he often sees cocktail waitresses in his office with chronic problems triggered by long years of wearing the shoes.

"They have a detrimental effect on the feet," said Dr. Mark Rubinstein. "When (the feet) go, you have subsequent problems with the knees, hip and back."

Rubinstein argues that a high-heel ban would actually be more economical for resorts, since it would save on medical costs.

"It would be cost-effective in the long run, but they cater to a certain look and style."

But other rehabilitation physicians in Las Vegas say they've seen few claims linked to high heels.

Jodi Politz, a Las Vegas podiatrist, said high heels, so long as they are not exceptionally high, are not the culprit in causing foot problems.

"They're not causing the deformities," Politz said. "They've already been there. An inch to an inch and a half is perfect. Three and a half is a little excessive.

"(High heels) put the body into biomechanical alignment. To decrease the heel height will not do away with the problem."

A heel of 1 to 2 inches, Politz said, can have advantages. It can reduce shock absorption to the foot and decrease tension on the Achilles' tendon. Moving from a heel to a flat can actually cause problems, she said, because the body has already gotten used to the heel.

Where problems do arise is with excessive rubbing within the shoe. But that's caused by poor support, not the heel, Politz said. It's also important to get heels with open toes, since a closed toe puts much of the body's weight on the toes, causing medical problems.

"We get a little bit more support for the feet, and they do great," she said. "I keep a lot of women permanently in heels. It's when they go into flats that they have problems."

Dr. Samuel Wise, an occupational medicine physician, agreed that consistency is important.

"People have the most problems when they change from a natural foot confirmation to something unnatural," Wise said. "If it's done progressively and gradually, it doesn't really hurt you."

But 3-inch heels or higher do cause problems, because they place most of the weight on the toes, experts say.

"Then you're getting excessive angulation of the foot, a lot of weight on the forefoot," Wise said. "For better stability, we need a broader base of support that keeps us from falling easily. Up on our toes, that reduces the balance point."

The next step

Information is now being gathered to see if the high heel critics have a case. The next step, organizers say, is to bring political and public pressure to bear on the casinos.

In May -- around Mother's Day -- the groups intend to hold media events in Las Vegas and Reno calling attention to the study.

"I would anticipate if the (gaming) industry isn't amiable to changing the policy to more of a choice policy, we would consider speaking with OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and request that they look at this," Harper said. "We consider this to be a health and safety issue."

Legislative action may also be a possibility. But organizers are under no delusions that this would be an easy sell to Carson City, given the political power of the gaming industry.

"If you want to see a legislator run for cover, just bring it up," said Tom Stoneburner, director of the Alliance for Worker's Rights. "They're scared to death of it."

OSHA has received at least one complaint recently about the issue. But one of its top officials in Las Vegas says the agency's hands may be tied.

Jimmie Garrett, safety manager of OSHA's enforcement section in Southern Nevada, said the only way OSHA could act is if the heels present a danger because of the surface a waitress must walk on. If there's a possibility a floor could cause a heel to get caught or posed a risk of a fall, the agency would investigate.

But that doesn't appear to be the case here, at least industrywide, Garrett said.

"The only thing I could see they would try to say is that it would pose an ergonomic issue," Garrett said. "But OSHA has no ergonomic standard. So there's nothing for us to weigh it against."

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