Summary
- Station Casinos is reportedly not calling back employees that were laid off as required by the new law.
- The union says around 98% of members were laid off due to COVID-19 and only 80% have been called back to work.
- The Culinary Union worked for more than a year to ensure the Act would include provisions so union and non-union workers would be called back to work.
The Culinary Union announced this week that it plans to file a lawsuit against Station Casinos for breaking the Nevada Hospitality and Travel Workers Right to Return Act. The legislation was signed by Governor Sisolak last year and ensures casino and hospitality employees, along with travel-related and stadium workers are brought back in by their employer.
According to the union, Station Casinos is in violation of the act. The operator has reportedly avoided recalling workers back after COVID-19 restrictions were eased.
The Union’s Stance
The Culinary Union says that 98% of its members were laid off when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Right now, only around 80% of those members are working. The group pointed out that most workers that are protected by the Act are not unionized, but should still be called back to work, despite not having union recall protections in place.
The Act has several mandates in place that operators are supposed to follow. Any employee laid off after March 12, 2020 due to economic reasons connected to the pandemic is eligible under Right to Return. Covered employers must bring back laid off employees when a job opening for the same or a similar position is available.
Workers must receive a job offer and respond within 24-hours to accept or decline it. Employees must also be able to start work within five days of the offer. Employers are cleared of any obligation if an employee turns down three offers or if the individual is unable to be reached by mail, email, telephone call, or text.
The Culinary Union is now calling out Station Casinos for not acting in the best interest of its employees. More details of the lawsuit are expected later today via a press conference. Station Casinos has yet to respond to the pending lawsuit.
The Effect on Employees
The state of Nevada is quite unique in the US for many reasons, including its hospitality and entertainment industries. Areas of the state like Las Vegas and Reno rely on the industries to survive, and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything shut down. Tens of thousand of people lost their jobs, including members of the Culinary Union.
These employees were out of work for many months until casinos and hotels began reopening once again, later in 2020. However, services were limited, so not every employee was able to get back to work.
The Right to Return Act was created to ensure that employees would be brought back to their former positions after being laid off. The goal was to provide the former employees with a chance to take back their position first, before bringing in new hires. Some people did move on to other work, but many were holding out to go back to their old jobs. The Act was a form of security for such employees.
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