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Friday, July 10, 2009 | 12:36 p.m.
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Sun Coverage
Even as Nevada's labor commissioner heard testimony this week in the long-running dispute over tip sharing at Wynn Las Vegas, attorneys for casino dealers pressed the issue in a different forum: federal court.
Wynn dealers Quy Ngoc Tang, Leopold Gemma and Daniel Baldonado filed suit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Thursday alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit seeks to represent all affected Wynn Las Vegas dealers.
The federal suit claims that by requiring the dealers to share tips with supervisors, Wynn Las Vegas effectively is paying the dealers nothing, in violation of federal minimum wage and overtime laws.
Leon Greenberg, an attorney for dealers in both cases, said the new federal case is independent of the pending state case and neither case is dependent on the outcome of the other.
A request for comment was placed Friday with Wynn Las Vegas and its attorney in the state action.
The state dispute arose with a lawsuit challenging the policy at Wynn Las Vegas that immediate supervisors receive a share of gamblers' tips to dealers -- a departure from the usual practice in which dealers alone shared in the tip pool.
Wynn Las Vegas has long maintained the policy is equitable by reducing the pay gap between the dealers and their immediate supervisors. In many cases, the dealers were making more money than their bosses. Wynn Las Vegas has also long argued it has the authority to distribute tips in this manner.
The Nevada Supreme Court last year sided with a Clark County District Court ruling that the state issue should be brought to the state Labor Commissioner. The commissioner, Michael Tanchek, held hearings this week and will continue to collect evidence and accept attorneys' legal briefs through the fall before issuing a decision.
"Defendants have failed and refused to make the minimum wage and/or overtime payments required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to the plaintiffs because they have violated ... the FLSA, to wit, they have failed to allow the plaintiffs to retain for themselves, or retain for themselves through a tip pool structured in compliance with the provisions of the FLSA and otherwise authorized by the FLSA, all of the tips they have received from customers during the course of their employment by the defendants," the new federal lawsuit charges.
The suit claims Wynn Las Vegas has "effectively failed to pay any wages whatsoever to the plaintiffs, in that defendants recoup from the plaintiffs, through the taking of a portion of the plaintiffs’ tips, an amount far in excess of the amount it nominally pays to the plaintiffs from the defendants’ own funds, such actions by the defendants violating the purpose and intent of the FLSA, which is to make all employers pay FLSA-required minimum wages and overtime wages and all other wages solely from the resources of the employer."
Seems Mr. Wynn, is a bit piggy.
One would think he has enough money.
That's the "last" time I ever tip a dealer. I thought the tip given to your dealer was his. I didn't even realize it was going into a dealers pool. That's like rewarding bad performance, no incentive there.
many think wynn was savior of vegas-not-wynn has brought in the era of taking care of whales at the expense of everyday travelers. if dealers lose this, you'll see every casino do same thing.
It is really sad that the casino corporation cant pay a legitimate wage to the wage earner.
They do the same at the Indian Casinos as well.
They are getting greedy as well.
A tip is a tip for service rendered. So the buck stops here. He or she earned it so it should go home with he or she no one else gets a piece of the pie.
Best way to DEAL with it, quit tipping dealers.
If you tip a dealer, the money belongs to the dealer. At what point in time does the money belong to Steve Wynn?
If you all think the dealers are so hard done by open a casino and pay them twice as much as wynn and let them keep all the tips and half the drop.
I'm all in for the dealers. What exactly do the supervisors do to earn a tip? I'm hoping that this is a Wynn-lose situation for King Steve.
anyone ever notice that the pit supervisors are more friendly and helpful at the Wynn,while at the Venetian they are more smug and stand-offish? maybe at the Wynn it's about team work and customer satisfaction,so sharing the grat's may be a good incentive
for the staff to focus on the customer.
if other properties shared tips,maybe the word "service"
will come back in vogue.
I think we mostly tip all dealers when we pick up the pot. If I get a big pot I tip more, regardless of my likeing the dealer or not!
I mean most are pretty professional and some have the gift of the gab. As to the supervisors, I would tip them if I'm cashing out ahead anyways. The real suprise though,is I thought the dealer kept his tips to himself/herself. Afterall they usually earned it.
PS I'm from the UK and just love Vegas.
To jrmcm53. Poker and Table Games are two different departments. I am pretty sure the poker dealers do keep their own tips. They do no have to pool them together with other poker dealers. The Table Games department is different. They share their tips with every dealer that worked during a 24 hour period. It would be better if all dealers kept their own, but the IRS will not allow that to happen.
Thanks for clearing that up virgil23x3
Interesting thread though. I think most of us want the dealers to get there reward.
Mr. Wynn should carry a whip around the casino with him!
I'm a dealer in a major Strip casino. We are working hard out there to entertain you and deal a clean and fun game. We appreciate tips, and yes we do share tips via a 24 hour cut, and sometimes that feels unfair but I always ensure people have a great time.
I have been a dealer for many years, both in Reno and Vegas. I have had a 24 hour split; a shift for shift split; and a go for your own split. As a dealer, I never had the choice on how I preferred the split. The Casino Management tells the dealers how the split will be done. If you don't like it, quit and go to a cssino that splits the way you prefer. Dealers do not delegate to management how tips should be split. One place I worked in had been shift for shift for many years and management decided to change to go for you own--great if you always get high limit games--sucks if you do not. I have also worked as a floor boss, watching up to six games, making sure the dealers always have full trays, tracking the players so they get comped and overall, work much harder than a dealer who works 60 minutes on and 20 minutes off all shift and plays cards for a living. I say if these three dealers don't like the way Steve Wynn runs his casino by allowing the hard-working floor bosses a cut of the tips, go somewhere else and work and good riddance. Remember, Nevada is a right-to-work state and you can always be fired for any reason or no reason at all! Now that everyone knows the names of these three dealers, it might be difficult for them to get a job at any other Nevada casino. That is as it should be.
I thought that the reason pit bosses didnt get tipped is because they are supposed to make sure there is no cheating at the tables. It seams easier to cheat if the pit boss is going to be getting a toke when the player wins a big pot. Does wantsuponatime forget that the dealers tips are taxed by the IRS. Every tip earner in Vegas has his or hers tips taxed by the IRS. We sign a tip compliance form when we start work at a casino. At least as a bartender I make ok hourly wage but it sucks when the IRS is taxing me over $8.00 an hour. Dealers get payed almost nothing an hour and rely on their tips to make a living. And dont forget the dealers receive their tips on their paychecks every two weeks, minis the taxes. The worst thing about it is the dealers dont even know how much they make in tips until payday. I hope Wynn loses this case, if not Vegas will never be the same for tip eaners. I will get of my soap box.
This corporate tip sharing scam idea of Wynn Las Vegas Resorts was supposed to be based on the same characteristics of the NFL's 'revenue sharing' guidelines...but we all know it is far from that.
For example, if you purchase any NFL licensed product item such as a Dallas Cowboys cap, the profit margin revenue is split evenly amongst all 32 NFL teams which adds up to only 3.125 percent for each NFL team (as Dallas also only recieves 3.125 percent of the profit margin of their logo licensed product as well).....the top 8 lucrative market teams hate this cuz they know they account for roughly 50 percent of all merchandise sales.
The reason Wynn Las Vegas wants to reward sharing tips towards upper management personnel is cuz : the compensation factor and the retainability factor.
We all know management level positions do generally have a higher paying salary than a non managerial position...
Managers and non managers both work very hard at their respected positions - one thing is dealers themselves having to split tips cuz they do directly deal with the customer at hand, but why should a portion of a tip be split amongst other personnel that have nothing to do with interacting with that tipping customer, which in turn leaves a much lesser percentage of revenue for the people that makes the customer appreciate the establishment and experience by giving the extra gratuity ? ...and still get taxed for it.
It is a sham because there is going to be more skimming based on the fact of : management determining how tips should be split.
A customer tipping someone or a toke given to a group running a table that directly interacted with that customer should keep the tips - period !
We also know that a lot more non managerial personnel in a megaresort hotel establishment MUST DIRECTLY deal with the good and bad customer day in and day out, while holding higher standards of conduct compared to some manager running a department with different responsibilities.
*************wantsuponatime stated -
''I have also worked as a floor boss, watching up to six games, making sure the dealers always have full trays, tracking the players so they get comped and overall, work much harder than a dealer who works 60 minutes on and 20 minutes off all shift and plays cards for a living.''
..''I say if these three dealers don't like the way Steve Wynn runs his casino by allowing the hard-working floor bosses a cut of the tips, go somewhere else and work and good riddance.''
..''Dealers do not delegate to management how tips should be split.''
*************
''I say'' this is a typical arrogant type of management attitude as the majority of people who tip do not ever wanna see a dime of their tips go into your pocket when you dont have anything to do with the customer in general, and you chose that management position knowingly you were not going to get any tip from quitting your dealer position.
''I say'' go back to dealing if you feel you work way harder than a typical dealer while not getting adequate tips as a manager, or better yet go work as a manager for Steve Wynn and hope he treats you worse than Nancie Homel like he treated her as a piece of trash after 15 loyal years based on the conflict of this subject.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTwTfq5Ay...
I hope Wynn Resorts will end up losing this far fetched tip sharing standard of theirs.
There's an obvious solution - Pay the managers a higher wage!
If Wynn decided to pay the managers a higher wage instead of complaining that dealers on occasion may make more money than a manager, the problem would be solved.
But, instead they are acting in a greedy fashion - by providing higher pay to managers through the dealers tips. Pretty icky stuff when it's considered. And, yea, even with the economy, raising the wages for a few isn't going to hurt the excutives million plus take home annual pay :)
This reminds me of Starbuck's supervisors sharing tips with the baristas case!
Tips are, strictly, for the servor that is directly offering the service to the client(s!
If the managers are stepping in to service the clients, then they should do better to get their own tips!
This is a complicated issue and a tough business for dealers and management.
Seems like wages for floor supervisors have declined over the years, with the best wages on the Strip vs. "local" casinos. The easy answer may be to pay the floor sups more.
Many dealers make total compensation far in excess of floor supervisors. But many dealers lack benefits because they are "part-time". Supervisors receive benefits but may work longer shifts if asked for no additional pay.
Splitting tips for a 24 hour shift allows all dealers to have an equal share of the drop. Having a schedule that requires working less desirable hours or pits (e.g., high limit vs. low limit), provides some equity.
Personally I tip if I'm winning and try to toke the dealer regardless when I cash out unless it's a total bust. I prefer less chatty dealers and I like rapid play, but I tip unless I've got a dealer who clearly wants to "beat the player".
I don't begrudge the floor supervisor because they are asked to watch a whole of tables, handle comps and markers. Heaven help the floor sup who fails to handle the marker properly and has to put up with players with an unholy sense of entitlement. Dealers can defer to management.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
"Tip Pooling: The requirement that an employee must retain all tips does not preclude a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, waitresses, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), busboys/girls and service bartenders. Tipped employees may not be required to share their tips with employees who have not customarily and regularly participated in tip pooling arrangements, such as dishwashers, cooks, chefs, and janitors. Only those tips that are in excess of tips used for the tip credit may be taken for a pool. Tipped employees cannot be required to contribute a greater percentage of their tips than is customary and reasonable."
What part is not clear? Supervisors have not "customarily and regularly participated in tip pooling arrangements."
Tip pooling is the root of poor service. The lazy people know the hard working employees will carry them, so why should they try?
Always ask the tipped employee what their tip policy is so that you can tip them most effectively. Some casinos do not allow dealer bets to be paid the full payout, such as the Pair Plus on Three Card Poker. You may need to place the dealer's bet on top of your bet.
If you receive poor service from one dealer and good service from another, tell the top manager on duty. Do not make the good suffer for the bad.