Region 28 wins injunction requiring Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa to remedy “outrageous” unfair labor practices

Las Vegas, Nevada – On July 20, 2021, District Judge Gloria M. Navarro of the United States District Court of the District of Nevada issued an injunction requiring Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, among other things, to bargain with Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas as the representative of a unit of over 1,300 of its food and beverage and hotel operations employees.

The injunction was issued based on a petition for temporary injunctive relief filed by Cornele A. Overstreet, Regional Director of Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), on behalf of the NLRB, pursuant to Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The petition alleged that Red Rock engaged in unfair labor practices “so serious and substantial in character” that a fair election cannot be held.  Therefore, it argued that employees’ past signing of cards authorizing the union to represent them is the best measure of whether they wish to be represented by the union.

Judge Navarro found that the Regional Director presented evidence that Station Casinos, LLC, the company that owns Red Rock — “offered extensive benefits that, at a minimum, were timed to deter the Red Rock unionization effort.” The judge explained that emails sent by company officials “explicitly promoted which benefits would be successful at undermining the Union” and that text messages between company officials show that Red Rock decided to announce the grant of benefits “ASAP” directly in response to the union’s filing of a petition to represent Red Rock’s employees.  The judge further found that Red Rock “strongly insinuate[ed]” that its employees would lose the granted benefits if they voted to be represented by the union. 

Judge Navarro determined that Red Rock’s grant of benefits “likely thwarted the Union’s majority status and was so outrageous that it undermined the fairness of future elections,” so that “an interim bargaining order is the only appropriate interim remedy.”  The judge explained that, absent such relief, Red Rock’s conduct would irreparably harm its employees’ rights under the NLRA by depriving them of the union representation “they should have previously attained.” The judge therefore decided that the public interest favored the grant of an interim bargaining order.

In addition to ordering Red Rock to recognize and bargain with the union, Judge Navarro ordered Red Rock to cease and desist from engaging in the types of unfair labor practices at issue, post the Court’s order at its facility, and conduct meetings where the order will be read to employees in English and Spanish in the presence of certain named company officials.

Pursuant to the order, the granted relief will remain in effect during the pendency of administrative proceedings before the NLRB.  In the proceedings before the NLRB, a hearing has been held before an administrative law judge, who has yet to issue a decision.

“Workers have a right to form a union without interference from their employer,” said Cornele A. Overstreet. “I am pleased that Judge Navarro granted the temporary injunction and issued appropriate remedies.”

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees, employers, and unions from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year. Region 28 serves Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas and Nevada from its Regional Office in Phoenix and Resident Offices in Las Vegas and Albuquerque.