LV Hilton defends firing of server

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.

The Las Vegas Hilton wants a federal judge to uphold a decision that it was justified in terminating an employee for insubordination when she allegedly refused an order to work.

The Hilton, which has a collective bargaining agreement with Culinary Union Local 226, said in a lawsuit against the union it was accused by the union of terminating banquet server Willow Thames in January 2000 without just cause and singling her out for "extraordinarily harsh treatment" in retaliation for her union support.

Thames, who was terminated on Jan. 13, 2000, said the Hilton couldn't order her to work on her scheduled day off, which was Dec. 31, 1999, and claimed Hilton's then-President Dean Harrold excused her from working on New Year's Eve.

But the Hilton disputed her allegations, saying banquet servers are historically expected to work on New Year's Eve and that her claims were uncorroborated and implausible since Harrold had serious staffing concerns and the Hilton was "on edge" because of Y2K fears.

Arbitrator Joseph Grabuskie denied the union's and Thames' claims, saying Thames wasn't singled out since she was the only one out of 16 banquet servers who had a scheduled day off on Dec. 31, 1999, who refused to work.

"(Thames') credibility is impugned by her own testimony," Grabuskie said. "There is no dispute that on Jan. 7, when the company wanted to know why she failed to report to work and her continued employment was at stake, she said nothing. This scenario does not pass the 'reasonable person' test, whereby the first words out of someone facing termination would have been, 'I was excused.' "