2006 September
22
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Sep-22-Fri-2006/business/9802481.html" target="_blank">
Washington D.C., the Internal Revenue Service will no longer audit Nevada casino workers for tip income and will reimburse
workers who should not have paid taxes on tips, lawmakers and gambling lobbyists say. In Washington, IRS Commissioner Mark
Everson agreed to halt the audits after meeting Wednesday with Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., in
Reid's office. The senators requested the meeting after workers and labor officials complained the IRS was reneging on
a 2003 agreement that expires this year. Under the agreement, casino employees report their tip income to casinos, which
then relay the information to the IRS. In return, the IRS agrees not to audit tax returns of about 200,000 workers in 185
casinos. (LVRJ)
Despite the agreement, the IRS insisted it still had legal authority to conduct audits of some casino workers. But Everson
told Ensign and Reid the audits would stop, the senators said. "(Everson) also agreed that people who
paid ... wrongly ... would get their money back forthwith," Reid said. Theresa Branscome, an IRS spokeswoman in
Washington, declined to comment. Ensign said: "It turned out the IRS made a technical mistake in the way the agreement
was being implemented. We held up (Everson's confirmation as IRS commissioner by the Senate) three years ago
to get this agreement, and he remembered it very well." Ensign said he did not know how much money casino workers had
paid the IRS after being audited. (LVRJ)
If Everson had not agreed to end the audits and return money that should not have been paid, Ensign said, negotiations for
a new tip tax reporting agreement by the end of this year might have become difficult. "Having been raised in Las Vegas
and coming from a family of tip earners, I've never been a great fan of the IRS and I wasn't surprised they interpreted
the agreement in a way that was very anti-Nevada and anti-worker," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "But what could
have been a very bad situation turned out to be a home run for us," Berkley said. The American Gaming Association, which
represents at least 80 percent of Nevada's casino industry, will help negotiate a new tip tax reporting agreement with the
IRS. (LVRJ)
</a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
2006
September
13
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06278/727665-28.stm#ixzz0vUIBm6CX" target="_blank">
Two dealers -- Joseph Cesarz and Daniel Baldonado -- have filed a lawsuit in Nevada state court seeking class-action status
in an attempt to recoup wages lost to the new arrangement. "When I walked out of that meeting, my heart just broke
because he was taking money from us to pay his managers," said Mr. Cesarz, a 36-year-old craps dealer at the casino,
referring to Mr. Wynn. "The company needs to start paying the right salaries to the managers and if it has to be more
than the dealers are making, so be it," he said, adding, "We're paying for Wynn's mistakes."
(Post-Gazette.com)
The suit claims Wynn Resorts violated state laws that dictate how employers can modify tip-pooling arrangements. "These
are laws designed to prevent tip sharing by people who weren't in the chain of service," says Mark Thierman, a Reno,
Nev., attorney representing dealers in the suit. "It's almost a conflict of interest to be tipping your own boss,
the person who is supposed to catch you making mistakes and reprimand you." (Post-Gazette.com)
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Sep-22-Fri-2006/business/9802481.html" target="_blank">
"(Wynn Las Vegas) breached ... contracts of employment by unilaterally, illegally, and without cause, withholding
certain portions of the ... casino dealers' tip pool and paying such portions to other persons who were not casino dealers
and were not entitled to such payments," the lawsuit said. (LVRJ)
The dealers' lawsuit was filed Sept. 13, the same day Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek rejected the complaints of
more than 100 dealers about the tip pooling program. Tanchek said he didn't believe the casino was violating state
law. (LVRJ)
Tanchek said the state's Department of Business and Industry will continue to look at Wynn Las Vegas' new policy and
investigate any new complaints. (LVRJ)
</a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
2006
September
1
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-23-Wed-2006/news/9211902.html" target="_blank">
Pit bosses and floor supervisors will be known as "casino service team leaders." Their responsibilities will
cover the operations of specific table games, including game protection and customer service. The new plan will be
phased in over several weeks. (LVRJ)
<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06278/727665-28.stm#ixzz0vUIBm6CX" target="_blank">
[By] now, the task of gathering and counting the daily toke is in the hands of management. The
casino's security staff collects the daily tips and counts the money behind closed doors, according to a revised
copy of the Handbook issued last month. The company said it will make available DVDs, taken off casino security
cameras, for any dealers who want to review the daily count. (Post-Gazette.com)
</a>
<a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul/12/court-casinos-can-split-dealers-tips-supervisors/" target="_blank">
More than 100 dealers filed anonymous complaints with the Labor Commissioner, whose office issued a press release stating
that the policy appeared to be legal but failed to make a formal ruling because the complaints were anonymous. (Sun)
|
2006 August
21
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06278/727665-28.stm#ixzz0vUIBm6CX" target="_blank">
Steve Wynn, the CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd., decreed that, in the case of dealers, the coveted tip pool will now be expanded to
include about 220 of their supervisors. The move, the company says, is meant to correct a strange inequity in the casino
workplace: Thanks to tips, dealers make thousands of dollars more than some of their bosses do. (Post-Gazette.com)
According to people who attended Mr. Wynn's recent meetings with dealers, he angrily accused the employees of "mugging"
his players and pointedly referred to the June tipping binge. A Wynn Resorts spokeswoman said in a statement that Mr. Wynn was
simply reinforcing the idea that employees have "a responsibility to service the guests without being solicitous."
(Post-Gazette.com)
The company maintains that, with tips included, its dealers average close to $100,000 per year in wages. (Dealers say it's
closer to $88,000.) Their supervisors typically make far less -- between $50,000 and $60,000 annually,
according to Wynn Resorts. (Post-Gazette.com)
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-23-Wed-2006/news/9211902.html" target="_blank">
Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn and other executives told table game employees of the pending changes Monday night. (LVRJ)
Wynn had been in China working on preparations for next month's opening of the $1 billion Wynn Macau. But he thought the issue
was important enough to make a 15-hour flight to Las Vegas to tell his workers personally, Wynn Las Vegas President Andrew Pascal
said. (LVRJ)
</td>
</tr>
|
