Tip Pooling at the Wynn Casino Las Vegas Upheld

(CN) - Wynn Casino Las Vegas can require card dealers to share tips with employees of different ranks, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled.

When the Wynn restructured its table-games department, it established a tip-pooling system among dealers, boxpersons and casino service team leads.

Three dealers, Daniel Baldonado, Joseph Cesarz and Quyngoc Tang, filed a class-action complaint against the casino, challenging the system of sharing their tips with employees of different ranks.

The Labor Commissioner ruled that the Wynn's policy did not violate Nevada law, but a Clark County judge set aside that ruling aside, stating that the policy violated the law because it directly benefited the Wynn.

Wynn obtained a more favorable ruling from the Nevada Supreme Court last week.

"We hold that the district court erred in overturning the Labor Commissioner's decision because the Wynn did not keep any of the tips from the pool; rather, the Wynn distributed the money among its employees," Justice Michael Douglas wrote for the unanimous seven-member court.

The Clark County judge should not have based his decision on whether the casino benefits from the policy, according to the ruling.

"Such a test is unworkable because every tip-pooling policy directly benefits the employer in some manner," Douglas wrote.

It was also improper for the Clark County court to overrule the labor commissioner's denial of class certification for the plaintiffs, the ruling states.

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