LAS VEGAS
Beginning August 30, 2013, pursuant to the order of United States District Court Magistrate Judge George Folely, Jr., over 7,000 present and former employees of Deutsche Bank's Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel resort and casino will be mailed a copy of an official federal court notice—and given the opportunity to participate in what is likely one of largest wage and overtime lawsuit in Nevada history.
According to Plaintiff's class counsel attorney Mark R. Thierman of Reno, Nev., the mailing in the case of Darlene Lewis v. Nevada Property 1, LLC, d/b/a the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Nevada federal Court Case No.: 2:12-cv-01564-MMD-GWF, is going forward because the parties failed to reach a satisfactory settlement at mediation.
The lawsuit seeks over 70 Million dollars for employees who, according to company documents, were required to change into and out of company uniforms on site without compensation. Some of these employees were also required to pick up, reconcile and drop off their "cash bank" at designated cashier locations "off the clock" before they clocked in and/or after they clocked out for the day. The suit also alleges a miscalculation of the overtime rate of pay.
The case originally arose from the Cosmopolitan's August 2011 decision to terminate Melodee Megia, a "room service sales clerk" in her ninth month of pregnancy, on the grounds she said "bye-bye" instead of "good bye" after she finished taking a customer's order over the phone. Represented by the same attorneys, Megia filed a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit in Nevada State Court in Clark County based upon a series of offensive remarks by her supervisor and the trivial nature of the company's reason for her termination. Her complaint also alleged the employer required workers to work off the clock without compensation in violation of state labor laws.
According to Josh Buck, another attorney for the plaintiff class in the case, given the sheer size of the class affected this is likely one of the largest wage hour class action to receive conditional certification and court ordered notice in the history of the state of Nevada. Those who receive notice must complete the form and return it or they will not be entitled to participate in any award of wages, overtime and/or liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal wage hour law.
