Backpay issued to ex-Sands workers

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 10:44 a.m.

Some 600 former Culinary Union workers at the closed Sands hotel-casino received $105,000 in backpay checks Thursday after a six-year battle with Las Vegas Sands Inc. to be compensated for income lost with the early closure of the hotel-casino in 1996.

The Culinary Union sued Las Vegas Sands in federal court in 1996 following the June 30 closure of the property to make way for the building of The Venetian. The suit alleged the workers received 45 days' notice of the hotel-casino's closure instead of the 60 days required under federal law.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro in 1998 ruled in favor of the union, saying the Sands was obligated to pay the employees a full 15 days' pay rather than the days they would have worked in that 15-day period. Pro, who also ordered the Sands to pay employees double-time for a missed July 4 holiday, awarded $73,626 to the union on Oct. 8, 1998. Las Vegas Sands' appeal of Pro's rulings was rejected by the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals last April.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan on June 6 ordered Las Vegas Sands to pay to the court $105,000 -- which includes the $73,626 judgment plus interest accrued. The monies were then disbursed to the union's attorneys to be distributed among the workers.

Andrew Kahn, a Culinary attorney, said a class action lawsuit filed by two former Sands dealers on behalf of some 600 non-union workers including dealers and administrative workers to recover more than $100,000 in back tip income is still pending.

Meanwhile, the Culinary is still fighting claims by Las Vegas Sands that it violated an agreement with the Sands when it allegedly applied political pressure to delay or deny licenses, permits and approvals for The Venetian in an effort to force the hotel-casino to recognize the union.