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Sun file photo
The Prive nightclub at Planet Hollywood.
Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Is the party over for Prive? (7-29-2009)
- Prive enlists lawyer with connections in fight for liquor license (7-29-2009)
- Former Privé security director speaks out (7-29-2009)
- Is the party over for Prive? (7-29-09)
- Prive enlists lawyer with connections in fight for liquor license (7-29-09)
- County rejects Prive's appeal for temporary license (7-28-2009)
- Big fine establishes hard line on nightclubs (7-27-2009)
- Liquor license rejections force Planet Hollywood clubs to close (7-23-2009)
- Next to gaming board, other enforcers look like pushovers (7-15-2009)
- Planet Hollywood to pay $750,000 fine over Prive (7-12-2009)
Former employees of the beleaguered Prive nightclub have spilled juicy stories of how management condoned drug use, allowed pimps into the club and entertained VIPs with drugs and strippers in a backroom called “Table 69.”
One major reason why they’re talking: They’re unhappy with how the club handles the distribution of workers’ tips.
The club is a tenant of Planet Hollywood, which was fined $500,000 by the Nevada Gaming Commission last month for allowing illegal acts on its property. Clark County denied the club’s liquor license, forcing it to close. The club has appealed.
Tips are a sensitive subject on the Strip: Witness the dispute between dealers and Wynn Las Vegas over the casino’s decision to have dealers share tips with their immediate supervisors.
Prive workers say they quit the club because management — which counts and splits employee tips behind closed doors — unfairly swiped a big chunk of tip money that should have been returned to workers.
It’s a damning allegation in a town where so many depend on tip income. Employers who allow management to dip into the tip pool are demonized in Las Vegas, where employers generally follow a time-honored practice of letting employees count their tips before the employer distributes them to the rank and file.
At Prive, former employees say, management counts the tips and distributes them based on undefined performance measures.
Years ago casino employees typically received envelopes of cash at the end of their shifts. Many employers, wary of Internal Revenue Service audits, corruptible managers and employee squabbles, have abandoned the practice in favor of distributing printouts showing what each worker received in tips and payroll stubs that report tip earnings. Still, some Las Vegas businesses, including Prive, do things the old-fashioned way.
These former employees say their cash envelopes typically contained a fraction of the tips they turned in at night’s end because, according to managers, their co-workers didn’t generate as much in tips. Because management counted the tips behind closed doors, former employees say they had no way of determining whether the tips they received accurately represented their share. They believe top executives simply pocketed the tips — a practice that is frowned upon, if not illegal.
Prive spokeswoman Vanessa Menkes acknowledged in an e-mail that managers keep a portion of employees’ tips, which she said is common in Las Vegas.
Some nightclub operators disagree, saying it alienates workers.
Menkes said the club’s tip-pooling policy is proper because employee tips are “collected by the staff and the totals are verified by management prior to distribution. The staff is required to stay and observe the verification process prior to the monies being distributed based on the tip pool distribution system. The staff is required to report 100 percent of tips earned in compliance with IRS statutes.”
Gaming regulators who investigated the club’s practices are aware of the tip allegations — and the underlying assumption that executives aren’t reporting their tip windfall to the IRS — but say they have not been able to prove anything.
Ex-employees are mobilizing heavier artillery against Prive — accusing top management of devising the same tip confiscation scheme that led to last year’s well-publicized IRS raid of nightclub operator Pure Management. Prive’s top management came from Pure, which was raided months after managers left to open Prive.
Menkes said that allegation is “100 percent untrue, and clearly instigated by disgruntled former employees.” She added that the two managers who are the target of most of the former workers’ complaints are no longer employed by the nightclub.
(No arrests or charges have been made as a result of that investigation, and the IRS has declined to comment. Gaming regulators say the IRS has not shared any of its information with Nevada officials.)
Gaming regulators have historically taken a hands-off approach to employment disputes such as those involving the pooling and distribution of tips, along with other issues for which primary regulatory jurisdiction rests with another government agency, such as the Nevada Labor Commissioner and the IRS.
Even so, Gaming Control Board member Randall Sayre said regulators are on notice.
“The board is concerned anytime there is potential criminal conduct going on. There’s a tremendous amount of money involved in these clubs. If you’re going to be engaged as an employer, (tip pooling) is one of the issues you should take a look at.”
I applaud whoever turned them in. It's evident, if they were counting and cutting tokes behind 'closed doors', something was going on. Their (management's) greed, got their license revoked. Shame on greed!
Prive spokeswoman Vanessa Menkes acknowledged in an e-mail that managers keep a portion of employees' tips, which she said is common in Las Vegas.
DISGUSTING. These folks make a small hourly wage and rely on tips to supplement their income. Managers make a better salary and do not work for tips. They are stealing from the employees out on the front line. This is absolutely disgusting. More examples of the greed by so many corporations. Prive should be sued for stealing from employees.
"She added that the two managers who are the target of most of the former workers' complaints are no longer employed by the nightclub."
Let me guess, they are now managing some other club making more money and stealing more from workers.
i find it funny that the people that make money by selling a $30 bottle of vodka for $500 are upset that someone took money from them.
these clubs are stupid. bad music, over priced drinks, and wanna-be people...hoping to be seen by other wanna-be people.
Whats even worse about this story is the people who are crying here are the worse tippers themselves!I know for a fact as i deal with them on a nightly bases.
Prive needed to be shut down it gave the honest nightclubs a bad name.
You have to believe that the operators of this club were raking off the top for themselves.
Cash in the pocket...this must be the source of the Pure/Caesars IRS mess and will no doubt be the same issue here.
Seems like major arrogance to think they can get away with it.
I think most customers would be unhappy to know that a portion of their tips were going to management. Maybe they should pass out 'tip sheets' so you can allocate your own tips.
How anyone can think that any company has the right to steal their workers tips is beyond me. It doesn't matter how much these tip earners make the company is making millions more. How dare anyone tell people how much they can make as long as they are working hard. Tips are given by people who appreciated the service. The only reason management is counting behind closed doors is to steal. If an owner of a casino or club is taking the hard workers tips and adding them into the millions they are already making shame on them. Greedy bastards!!!!
Look....you do your job and you do it good...and get tipped...no matter HOW large...is yours, period. You earned it. You want to sit on your A**...go ahead,see if I give you another look. Simple as that. Why reward those goofing off.
I have to say when I know they pool tips I tip less becuase i know the person I'm tipping is only getting a portion of it ..I know you may say well at least they get a portion but i dont want joe slacker getting anything what a cess pool these places are and the fools that go there so they can feel like they are somebody when they are no body is hysterical... when you walk by the lines they all look like sheep to me.. " I know lets sell the feeling of being famous" fools keeep going to clubs and bring your K Y cause your gonna need it
If tip sharing is common around Las Vegas, I think I will reduce my tips to 5%. I am already paying for overpriced drinks. I only was tipping large to impress the cocktail waitress. All is lost if she doesn't get the money. Ladies, I'm so sorry that our little game is over.
Concerning "Prive spokeswoman Vanessa Menkes acknowledged in an e-mail that managers keep a portion of employees' tips, which she said is common in Las Vegas."
As the leader of a nightclub management team, I can say that management inclusion in any tip pool (aside from the dealers at the Wynn) is not a common practice in Las Vegas.
Within my properties, not only are they not allowed anywhere near the tip pool, if a guest attempts to tip a manager, the manager is to respectfully decline as they are doing the job I am paying them to do. If the guest insists, or if the refusal would result in embarassment, then the manager that recieves the tip is required to immediately turn it over to the nearest IRS tip compliant hourly employee.
Furthermore, under me, any manager that requests or accepts a tip or "services" from an employee would be terminated for cause on the spot. Managers, with their ability to comp items and affect an employees ability to earn money (shifts, stations etc.) should not be tempted to put their personal gain ahead of that of the business as it seems to have happened so blatantly with Prive.
For vegasbike, generally the cocktail servers are on their own, it is usually the bartenders, the VIP hosts and the security staff that are in tip pools. The pools ensure that the less desirable or non tip spots (service bar, exit door etc.) get taken care of with a minimum of squabbling over who is going to work those positions, so please keep taking care of those people that take care of you, the jobs in the food and beverage industry are a real physical beating.
"Menkes said that allegation is "100 percent untrue, and clearly instigated by disgruntled former employees." She added that the two managers who are the target of most of the former workers' complaints are no longer employed by the nightclub."
Ms. Menkes appears to be stating the standard denial of wrongdoing, and of course those two managers are gone, they were the instigators of the club being shut down and the PH financial penalty in the first place.
Hey when I valet parked in SF California over the holidays they pooled our tips but for 2 straight days I got tipped at least $60 each night but at the end I got $5 as that is what was turned in I was told! ha ha, it's winner take all, everyone was stealing, stuffing money in our socks, hiding it anywhere we could, what a joke! I then learned not to trust anyone and kept it all. The world sucks. I agree that pooling tips would keep me from killing the manager for giving me the bad tip jobs and favoring the ones that (were his buddies) for higher tip areas! Welcome to Las Vegas, Comrade! We all share our tips to the Soviet Central and Comrade Stalinksi! And public bussing makes all the schools better! Also, realize some people don't get tipped much because they are shy or don't "hustle" (read kiss ass), they are content to be nice to people. The guys at these clubs that get tipped big are sucking up to bigshots, promissing things, getting comps/better areas/meeting hotties for them/networking/exuding confidence/acting cool/ etc...some people just suck and make bad impressions, so yea, the hustlers don't want to share in their successes/scores! And these managers are counting tips, ya know if a hondo is passed, it gets grabbed like a magnet, look at the freaks that are working at these places, look at the goofballs blowing thousands on vodka to impress chicks, out of town jerk-offs with lots of money throwing hundreds around, guys that make more in a day than I make in a year, they come to Vegas to impress themselves and they tip huge, so huge that everyone that works at these clubs will kill you for the tips! Of course this will be CONTROVERSIAL! Oh, and fu&% the IRS!
You guys really have no idea what you're talking about. You're doing more than just giving your opinions. You're hurting the professions and jobs of people who live around the valley. Why does it make a difference to you if it is not directly corresponding to your life or income; denro, thumper, babyboomer, and rocco? You guys aren't affected by this, so you are unable to give an honest opinion, think, and were told. You're opinion is based off of what you "think" you know, rather than what is truly going on. Prive Nightclub is an honest club. You guys have no right in trying to diminish its' values and reputation. Unless you know the full extent of what is going on (not just what the press is saying or what you here around the strip), then you truly have no right. Leave it at that.
When I worked for the Frontier (security), we used to go to the holding room with at least two dealers where they counted tips and divided them up into envelopes and them passed them out at the end of their shifts. All this was watched on camera also. No portion was given to management.
We dealers at Wynn Las Vegas feel your pain. Everyone called us greedy for raising a beef about our tips. We like Prive employees don't count our tokes. So we really don't know what we made. Mr. Wynn has his team collect our tokes and count them with no dealers or supervisors present. Tip earners need to pay attention to our case, it will effect all of you. You give these Casinos an inch, they take a yard. They care about their bottom line, not ours..
I have worked the front doors of clubs in this town for the past decade and the "skimming" by management is true. The holding out of tips by employees is true. People sucking up to management and guests so that they can get in better areas to make more tips is true. What happened at Prive is just a case of people getting sloppy and lazy. In the most successful of clubs there is always a certain amount of discretion involved. Neither Pure nor Prive were discreet with what they were doing, and it came back to haunt them. Also, people have to understand that no matter how much Las Vegas has grown; it is still a small town. Everybody knows everybody. So some people are mad that they didn't get all of their money back, so they are telling all now. But if they don't know how to work out of multiple pockets then their skim was skimmed. Oh well. In Vegas, management used to know how to take care of their people and everybody had an understanding. All of this was known and not new. Now you have "owners" and "managers" coming from all over, who don't take care of anybody but themselves, and the whole thing is going to crap. The owners want "tips" too. So they force management to make sure some money goes "up the pipe". The managers take tips to justify their position to themselves. Otherwise they are the pauper while everybody around them gets paid. They just call it pooling. Welcome to the New Vegas, where soon nobody will be able to make a dime because the Feds will see how much "free cash" is really in this town.
Just curious, is there much tip money that goes into the employees pocket and never makes it to the tip pool? Seems like if someone was handed a decent tip, the temptation would be to pocket it and shut up. Or is the penalty for doing that so severe (or even illegal). I doubt any will admit to it, but many have probably "heard of it happening".
I'm wondering if anyone has found a way yet to blame Obama for this. Maybe there is some connection between stealing tips and his comments earlier this year that no one should ever go to Las Vegas for any reason whatsoever.
rich stealing from the poor- is that something new
"I'm wondering if anyone has found a way yet to blame Obama for this. Maybe there is some connection between stealing tips and his comments earlier this year that no one should ever go to Las Vegas for any reason whatsoever."
Yea! I'm telling you this Obama is the biggest nerd since Jimma Carter! He might as well be sitting in front of a fire in a freezing white house shivering in a stupid sweater! Does everyone realize what a nerd he really is, the guy went to Harvard and was probably voted biggest nerd there! He reacts intellectually, and tries to say the "right thing" like stay the hell away from Sin City it looks bad when your corporate workers are getting hammered and gambling all night then hitting the topless bars and coming in with bloodshot eyes and slurring your words at the presentation the next day! Well, he is right isn't he? They all went to Arizona and California resorts instead, where nobody cares what they do and they can't get in any trouble. OH WELL, deal with it! It's all that stupid R&R advertising with half naked chicks and older execs getting drunk and having a good time, and what happens here stays here! What a load of crap, R & R should apologize to everyone for not switching that garbage when the economy started to tank, didn't anyone see this coming, with a nerd President who is a technocrat geek politically correct down to the t! We should have been running commercials showing corporate tradeshows and events with everyone enjoying our beautiful accomodations and excellent service and golfing, restaurants, no rubber chicken meals at a friggin' Howard Johnsons! They missed the opp!!!!
Well, I see the bartendenders end their shift at Suncoast by putting all tips into a sealed plastic bag (the camera is definitely watching them!), then a bartender takes it to the cage to be counted then divided up! They don't mess around, it's not a joke, there might be a brick of 1's & 5's up to thousands in there, and no bartender in his right mind would mess this up by stealing, he'd be fired and blackballed from casinos, let alone his friends and fellow bartenders wanting to kill him! This is the way to do it. The Prive management and Pure Group is owned by a Jewish (no offense, no I don't hate Jews) Middle-Eastern Assidic (not sure if I spelled this correctly) family prominent in this town we all know who they are, greedy (but highly flashy successful driving Ferrarris living high, in with the "in crowd" of celebreties and such) people if you ask me, I've seen them in action, they'd cut your throat for money, but hey their clubs are beautiful and successful, but they are in it for the money believe me I can't believe they'd let their clubs get closed for this crap, it doesn't make any sense, and it isn't good for this struggling town to see this happen. Planet Hollywood was the one cool place for hipsters to go, the movie "21" was filmed there, if that doesn't make these 21-30 year old rich kids go friggin nuts to come to Vegas and party hard, nothing will! So yea, the management of these clubs are greedy but for themselves, how could they let this happen????? Yea, us locals mostly can't afford to go to these "ultra-clubs" so yea we are jealous and resentful! TRUE!!!! I hate and resent rich people, they make me sick, but I welcome them with open arms to this sinful city which needs them...so close our coolest clubs and watch more cool hip rich celebraties and fast-money people quit coming here as Vegas rep goes down the crapper!
OK, if you haven't been to these "ultra-clubs" everyone is drinking from $500 bottles of Vodka, they want pure debauchery, it is like entering a palace of another dimension, you are cool just for being there, you want to see Paris Hilton and movie stars, and you do! The guys are clamoring for pu^^y and are doing just about anything throwing hundreds at everyone to get action, get chicks, get plastered, feel important. You can't dummy this down by shutting down these clubs for "immoral behavior", drugs, people having sex in the dark areas, prostitutes hanging out, prostitutes being encouraged, etc...We're talking very very expensive prostitutes here, and very very drunk very very rich dudes with egos as big as this town! This town needs this crap! WE need to legalize prostiution, legalize weed, get the stupid cops off our asses! If I'm blowing thousands on a private party at Prive for my buddies, I want action, I want fun, I want craziness, I want hot chicks, I want the crazy vibe to blow my mind, you get caught up in it!!! So yea, if you've never been there, don't bitch about it! Also, you can't hear yourself think its so loud in these clubs, you scream at each other, that's the point! You say to some 22 year old hottie "what luck!" and she thinks you said "Wanna f&ck?" and she says excitedely YES!!! This is the kind of stuff that goes on...so in the back room, its probably a craziness as the tips are counted, and yes people are extremely jealous and all it takes is for one idiot to steal tips, and the whole thing goes south.
I'm confused by the reporting here. There is very little information about any investigation by any authority: local, state, or federal. Are there no investigations going on of any substance? Or are you not reporting them? Why?
LasVegasClubs,
I don't get it.
If Prive has been an honest club as you say, how does that equate to Planet Hollywood paying a fine of 500k, and the club being shut down?
BTW, I am not a babe in the woods. I have been coming to Las Vegas for about 56 years, my Father was in business there in the middle fifties and I have lived there, though not in recent years.
I have followed the goings on in Las Vegas since the motel and western style two story resort era.
LasVegasClubs, it seems like you have a defensively based biased opinion.
I believe what I "think" I know happened isn't as bad as the reality of what really went on inside this club.