Local Joint Executive Board of Culinary/Bartender Trust Fund v. Las Vegas Sands, Inc.

Las Vegas Sands, Inc. (“Sands”) violated the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act (“WARN Act” or “Act”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2101-2109 , by giving its employees 45 rather than 60 days advance notice of the closure of its hotel casino in Las Vegas. The Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas (“the Union”) and two individual representatives of nonunion employees sued for damages under the Act. Sands does not dispute that it violated the Act and must pay damages, but it contends that payments it made shortly after the closure satisfy its statutory obligations. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court granted partial summary judgment to both sides. Both sides appeal.

*1156 We affirm all the substantive decisions of the district court on issues of federal law. 1 We hold that under 29 U.S.C. § 2104 (a)(1)(A) tip income is included within the definition of “back pay” to which employees are entitled, and that employees who can prove that they would have worked on a holiday are entitled to back pay at the rate they would have been paid for that holiday. Further, we hold that under § 2104(a)(2)(B) payments made to nonunion employees on the condition that they not…