See Vegas and die

Phil Ruffin and Terry Caudill are singled out as bad actors in a sweeping new lawsuit being filed even as we speak by the Culinary Union. It alleges, among other things, that neither Circus Circus nor the Four Queens nor Binion’s Gambling Hall has an employee-safety plan in place. (Before the casino shutdown, S&G graded Ruffin’s Treasure Island safety response an “F.”) Many of the names of other alleged offenders remain unknown but the Culinary charges that only 11 operators test their employees for Coronavirus, leaving 55% that don’t. The lawsuit appears to be a preemptive strike at any hold-harmless legislation that might sneak out of Washington, D.C. (After all, one Vegas resort owner currently occupies a nice pied-a-terre at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.)

The Culinary has been pretty tight-lipped but spokeswoman Bethany Khan loosened up sufficiently to say, “The lawsuit alleges casino hotels have not protected workers, their families, and their community from the spread of Covid-19, and that the current rules and procedures in place for responding to workers contracting Covid-19 have been wholly and dangerously inadequate.” That’s a pretty damning assertion. We’ll see today what the Culinary has to back it up.