I didn't keep it! About two weeks ago I was invited to attend a meeting at the office of the Las Vegas labor commissioner. I was curious so I accepted the offer. The meeting was difficult at the beginning and very cordial at the end. Perhaps standard when a public official is answering a complaint made by some of its citizens. The most interesting thing about the meeting was of course what was said. I will tell you now but please I warn you that if you are a dealer at Wynn Las Vegas you will not like it. So take a deep breath and here we go.
The topic was the current situation at Wynn Las Vegas which is of course the new policy to formally include management in the tip pool. As I stated in my earlier articles this has never been done before. The dealers challenged it in court and the case was dismissed.
NRS 608.160 Taking or making deduction on account of tips or gratuities unlawful; employees may divide tips or gratuities among themselves. 1. It is unlawful for any person to: (a) Take all or part of any tips or gratuities bestowed upon his employees. (b) Apply as a credit toward the payment of the statutory minimum hourly wage established by any law of this State any tips or gratuities bestowed upon his employees. 2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent such employees from entering into an agreement to divide such tips or gratuities among themselves. Note that in section 1(a) it states that it is unlawful for any person to take the tips bestowed upon his employees. I asked about that and I was told by assistant labor commissioner Gail Maxwell "it is our opinion that he (Steve Wynn) did not take them." I said excuse me. If he did not take them then how did his management get them as we certainly did not give them away? Again I was told "it is our opinion that he (Steve Wynn) did not take them because he did not keep them." Next I presented a copy of the law to the Ms. Maxwell and asked her to show me where in the law it says that he must keep them in order to take them. Of course she could not but it was still her opinion, and that of her boss Mr. Mike Tanchek, that Steve Wynn did not take them. I then presented a hypothetical situation. A woman walks into a bank and takes a bag of money. She then goes outside and gives the money to a man who leaves the area. Shortly thereafter the woman is apprehended and arrested. The woman no longer has the money in her possession, she gave it away, but does that in any way negate the fact that she took it? NO! Of course not unless you were to ask the Las Vegas labor commissioner or Las Vegas Judge Douglas W. Herndon. Giving away the money is irrelevant. Everyone in the bank knows that she took it. Again, the fact that she no longer has possession of it is irrelevant as to whether or not she took it. This is what a reasonable man would conclude which is the standard in a court of law. Apparently the courts in Las Vegas operate under a different standard. That would be the Wynn standard which says that Steve Wynn gets what Steve Wynn wants. The labor commissioner and the judge take it upon themselves to interpret the law as they see fit rather than as it is written. This is evidenced by their adding "because he didn't keep them" to the law. So now I understand. Apparently it is ok for every dealer at Wynn Las Vegas to reach into the rack, take a stack of chips and give them to a player. Just take them and give them away. You are allowed to do this. If anyone says anything to you just say that you didn't take them because you didn't keep them.
If you get arrested plead innocent, demand a jury trial and call the labor commissioner and his assistant as witnesses. They can testify that if you did not actually keep what you took you never really took it. And when the judge asks for an explanation they can explain how well it works for Steve Wynn and that it should work for you too. Finally, ask to make your own closing statement to the jury and just tell them - I didn't keep it!
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