Cocktail waitresses settle suit against hotel-casino

Greg Tuttle

Friday, July 7, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

Three Las Vegas cocktail waitresses suing the Imperial Palace hotel-casino for discriminating against them when they became pregnant agreed to a settlement on the second day of trial in federal court.

Settlement negotiations with the three remaining women in the class-action lawsuit stalled the trial for much of the day Thursday, but an agreement failed to materialize.

The trial began Wednesday in U.S. District Court and resumed today.

Jennifer Jones, Rebecca Soto and Lori Neville agreed to drop out of the lawsuit in exchange for an undisclosed amount. The women were seeking lost wages and punitive damages against Imperial Palace.

"The only comment we can make is, we're happy and we're settled," said Nancy Killeen, the attorney for Jones and Neville.

Killeen and attorney Walt Cannon, who is representing Imperial Palace, said the agreement included a confidentiality clause and neither attorney could discuss terms of the settlement.

Jones and Neville, who initiated the lawsuit three years ago while working as cocktail waitresses at the Strip casino-hotel, also declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

The six women, all current or former cocktail waitresses at Imperial Palace, allege they lost wages and were discriminated against when they were transferred to lower paying jobs after becoming pregnant. The federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission filed the lawsuit on behalf of the women.

During testimony Wednesday and Thursday, the women said they were forced to accept new jobs behind a bar or on a switchboard when their skimpy uniforms became too tight. The women said the jobs paid less money and caused them stress and other health problems.

Attorneys for the hotel-casino say the women signed an agreement when they were hired that listed several job requirements, including a restriction against weight gain. Imperial Palace changed its policy of removing pregnant women from serving drinks on the casino floor in 1998, about a year after Jones filed a complaint with the Nevada Equal Employment Commission.

The trial was stalled for several hours Thursday afternoon while settlement negotiations continued with the three remaining women, Yolanda Brackens, Anne VanHoose and Glenda Austin.