Columnist Jeff German: On the Lady Luck’s lousy timing in showing 100-plus employees the door

Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005 | 8:03 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

It's never easy for a company to lay off workers.

But letting them go two weeks before Christmas ranks at the top of the Scrooge meter. It's as coldhearted as it gets.

What were the top dogs at the Lady Luck thinking this week when they gave 125 employees their walking papers?

"That's brutal," says D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union. "I've never heard of a place doing this just before Christmas."

As a top local labor leader for the past two decades, Taylor has a little experience in these matters. His union doesn't represent the Lady Luck workers, but it does look out for the interests of 60,000 other Las Vegas casino and restaurant workers.

"This is impacting the lives of people," Taylor says. "When somebody doesn't have a job before Christmas, what do you say to your kid?"

The layoffs also have astounded those within the casino industry.

"Traditionally casinos will provide employees with bonuses and gifts for holidays, not a pink slip," one prominent industry leader says. "That tells you something about management over there."

Lady Luck officials say Monday's terminations are a prelude to larger layoffs in February when the casino closes for remodeling for a year as part of the efforts to redevelop downtown Las Vegas.

It's hard to be critical of progress, especially when the Lady Luck comes back bigger and better in a year.

But that doesn't minimize the plight of the 125 employees who've been sacrificed for the holidays.

The workers, under federal law, will be paid for 60 days. But letting them go at this time is not only an embarrassment to the Lady Luck but also to city officials, especially Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who's leading the downtown revitalization effort.

And Goodman knows it.

The people's mayor, however, has been slow to help those poor souls.

His initial response Monday was to wish them luck in finding new jobs.

But late Wednesday, I'm told, Goodman contacted some "potential employers" about the prospects of hiring the Lady Luck workers. Then he put the word out that he'll give the names of those employers to any workers who call him.

Taylor, meanwhile, isn't forgetting the workers during the holidays.

He plans to make sure they gain access to the services of Nevada Partners -- a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the unemployed find work.

Nevada Partners, which is supported by labor and business leaders, also provides new job skills.

"We're going to do everything we can for them," he says.

The workers may be down on their luck this holiday season, but it turns out they may have hope for the future.

Rick Rizzolo is moving closer to learning his future.

Defense lawyers for the embattled Crazy Horse Too owner had their much-anticipated meeting with the Justice Department in Washington on Tuesday in hopes of derailing a criminal indictment.

There's no word on how things went, but these kinds of meetings rarely persuade the Justice Department not to file charges.

We should be hearing pretty soon what it intends to do.

Rizzolo, meanwhile, who has some big-name lawyers on his legal team, appears undaunted by the pressure of the federal racketeering investigation.

Next month he's planning to open a new and more ambitious Crazy Horse Too in Philadelphia.