Former Wynn cocktail server awarded $321.2K after trial
A Wynn Las Vegas cocktail server was awarded $321,200 by a U.S. District Court jury after a five-day trial in which she said she was wrongfully fired for abusing the company’s Family and Medical Leave Act policies.
Wynn Resorts is contesting the award.
The jury said Tiare Ramirez, a founding Wynn cocktail server hired in November 2008 and terminated in November 2017, proved her claim that Wynn interfered with her FMLA rights when the company fired her.
The jury denied her claim that Wynn also violated the plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act rights.
The $321,200 award was for lost wages and compensatory, emotional distress, liquidated and punitive damages.
Ramirez filed a lawsuit against Wynn in 2019 and the trial concluded Oct. 25.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Wynn said it would contest the award.
“Wynn Las Vegas denies any wrongdoing and will be filing a motion to contest the award, which we believe will be reduced significantly to comport to the law,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We are pleased that the court has indicated it will hold off on entering the judgment, pending the adjudication of our motion.”
During the trial, testimony indicated Ramirez attended a March 21, 2017, gender reveal party with co-workers at Town Square Las Vegas before she was scheduled to work at Wynn Las Vegas that day. That day, she called in to say she could not work and was using FMLA time off.
But pictures of her at the party posted on Facebook showed her wearing high-heeled shoes.
A Wynn employee started an investigation into the plaintiff’s potential misuse of FMLA on March 22, 2017. The investigation was delayed several times and Ramirez submitted a note from a physician indicating she would need additional time off through December 2017. She said she was suffering flare-ups from ankle problems as a result of wearing high heels.
Wynn’s policy for cocktail servers is to wear high heels of at least 1¾ to 2 inches.
By mid-September 2017, Ramirez had exhausted time off allowable through FMLA policy and through a collective bargaining agreement through her union.
But after completing the investigation, Wynn fired Ramirez on Nov. 2, 2017, and stated the reason for termination was “willful misconduct, dishonesty and misuse of FMLA-ADA.”
The jury foreman signed off on the FMLA interference claim, but not the ADA discrimination claim on Oct. 25. The trial was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Gordon.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.