Lawsuit against MGM Resorts by the Culinary Union Dropped

The lawsuit by the Culinary Union against two properties owned by the casino industry giant, MGM Resorts was dropped. However, the Union’s lawsuit against the Guy Fieri Las Vegas at Harrah’s, which is now owned by Eldorado, stays.

Filed on June 29, the Lawsuit against MGM Resorts Was Dropped

The Culinary Union has announced that it is dropping its lawsuit against the giant MGM Resorts. As a reason, the Culinary Union pointed out that arbitration is planned to start with MGM Resorts this week. The Culinary Union consists of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. It represents some 60,000 workers in both Reno and Las Vegas.

The lawsuit by the Culinary Union was filed back on June 29. It was against:

• The Signature at the MGM Grand
• Guy Fieri Las Vegas at Harrah’s
• Sadelle’s Cafe at Bellagio

The lawsuit by the Culinary Union was seeking injunctive relief under the Labor-Management Relations Act. According to the Union, the operators which the lawsuit was against, allegedly have not protected their employees, employees’ families and the community from the growing COVID-19 spread.

With that in mind, the Union dropped the lawsuit against the two properties by MGM Resorts. However, the Culinary Union said that the lawsuit against Guy Fieri restaurant at Harrah’s still stands. Here, it is important to mention that the property is now owned by Eldorado, following its merger with Caesars.

Secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Union, Geoconda Argüello-Kline commented on the subject by saying: “The lawsuit against Caesars Entertainments’ Guy Fieri Las Vegas at Harrah’s remains on-going.” She added: “Workers who make this city run deserve to be protected and they are at risk everyday – that’s why working families need Governor Sisolak to place the Adolfo Fernandez Bill on the agenda for the next special session and for the Nevada Legislature to pass it without delay.” The bill, to which Mrs Argüello-Kline was referring to, was actually named after an employee of Caesars Palace who died from coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Culinary Union Will Continue to Negotiate

Earlier this week, upon announcing that the lawsuit against MGM Resorts was dropped, the Culinary Union said that it will continue to negotiate for the safety of employees.

This arbitration is a first step and the Culinary Union will continue to negotiate aggressively and take any other steps necessary to ensure workers and their families are protected from the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace,”

said Mrs Argüello-Kline.

But MGM Resorts did not stand idly by. Earlier in July, the giant filed a complaint, requesting to dismiss the lawsuit. According to MGM Resorts, regardless of its efforts to communicate with the key figures of the Culinary Union, the company wasn’t asked to implement any specific restrictions by the Union. MGM Resorts even claimed that it made more than 60 attempts to resolve this.

The motion to dismiss by MGM Resorts reads: “In negotiation meetings, the Union continued to focus on economic issues.” The giant further outlined the Union allegedly was more concerned about scheduling, seniority and recall, but no specific discussion ever took place regarding the COVID-19 issues, which were outlined in the Culinary Union’s lawsuit. Moreover, in its motion to dismiss, MGM Resorts noted that the company first understood that the Culinary Union wanted enhanced safety protocols from the lawsuit itself.