Las Vegas Sands denies allegations over worker overtime pay

Sheldon Adelson

Gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. and CEO Sheldon Adelson are denying lawsuit allegations that members of Adelson’s elite personal security force and one of his drivers weren’t paid overtime as required by federal law.

Attorneys at the Las Vegas law firm Campbell & Williams — the same firm representing fired Sands Macau casino executive Steven Jacobs in his lawsuit against Las Vegas Sands and Sands China Ltd. – sued Adelson, Las Vegas Sands and another Adelson company June 10 in federal court in Las Vegas on behalf of driver Kwame Luangisa and nine security officers.

The suits claimed the security agents routinely worked in excess of 40 hours per week and frequently for more than 150 hours per week; and that the driver believes he’s owed more than $100,000 in unpaid overtime.

Attorneys for Adelson and his company Interface Operations LLC, in responding this week to Luangisa’s lawsuit, said he was a salaried employee who was terminated for cause in March of this year.

"Plaintiff has been paid all wages due" and "plaintiff was properly exempt from federal overtime requirements," their response said.

"At no time prior to filing the suit, including during his exit interview, did Mr. Luangisa approach any of the named defendants to discuss the subject matter of the suit. For that matter, the defendants only first learned of the suit after it was published in the newspaper," this week’s response said.

"Moreover, although plaintiff was never employed individually by Mr. Adelson, plaintiff intentionally choose to name Mr. Adelson as a defendant in this matter. Plaintiff’s inclusion of Mr. Adelson as a defendant is therefore most likely an attempt to create negative publicity about Mr. Adelson as evidenced by: the quick turnaround in which information about the complaint was published by the local newspaper; the fact that plaintiff’s counsel is currently involved in two different lawsuits wherein he is representing clients with claims against Mr. Adelson; and plaintiff’s decision to include sensational allegations in his complaint that have nothing to do with his underlying Fair Labor Standards Act claim," their response said.

These "sensational allegations" were that, “Following a particularly abusive tirade by Adelson,” Luangisa resigned on March 25.

"To that end, now that plaintiff has fulfilled his quotient of media attention at Mr. Adelson's expense, defendants seek to have Mr. Adelson dismissed from the case," the filing by attorneys for Adelson said.

Attorneys for Las Vegas Sands, in the meantime, denied the allegations that certain security officers for Adelson weren’t paid overtime.

They said that like Luangisa, the officers received all wages due and were exempt from federal overtime requirements.

Or, alternatively, the Las Vegas Sands attorneys argued: "Any alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act were not willful."

Las Vegas Sands and Adelson are represented in the litigation by attorneys with the Las Vegas office of the law firm Littler Mendelson P.C.

This week’s filings put the cases on track for discovery and potentially a trial should they survive summary judgment and dismissal motions, unless there’s a settlement.

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