EEOC files suit against Riviera

September 10

On Thursday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that they filed suit against the Riviera, stating that the property retaliated against workers for cooperating with a previous EEOC investigation into purported discrimination at the hotel.

The suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Las Vegas, marks the federal agency's second in two years against the Riviera.

The EEOC accuses the Riviera of firing a senior floor person and a cocktail server for serving as witnesses in the EEOC's ongoing suit against the Riviera. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and the reinstatement of former floor person Ronni Hill and former server JoAnna Harris as well as other similarly situated individuals who were supposedly retaliated against for participating as witnesses.

EEOC officials said they filed the suit after many efforts were made to reach a settlement with the Riviera, a process mandated by federal law.

Riviera Chief Financial Officer Duane Krohn stated that the company has not yet been served with the suit and declined any further comment.

The previous suit was filed by the EEOC in September 2002 on behalf of former floor person Jean Sylvia. That suit is set for trial in January.

Anna Park, a regional attorney for the EEOC, said the latest suit is atypical because most companies see discrimination suits as a warning and managers tend to take extra steps to ensure that discriminatory acts will not continue.

Worker advocates have said the EEOC is becoming more and more aggressive about addressing such discrimination claims especially in the casino industry. EEOC trial attorney Samantha Blake noted that recent EEOC suits have become a catalyst for more complaints.

The first EEOC suit claims Riviera co-workers and supervisors for years subjected Sylvia to sexually explicit comments, jokes and name-calling as well as derogatory comments and name-calling based on her age. The EEOC alleges that Sylvia's complaints to management were rebuffed or ignored. The Riviera has denied the claims.

Sylvia, 63, first brought the charges to the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, a subsidiary to the EEOC,  the NERC then transferred the case to the EEOC in 2000.

While some corroborating witnesses eventually came forward, others who cooperated with EEOC investigators later changed their minds for fear of losing their jobs, Blake said.

The EEOC is charged with enforcing federal laws protecting workers from discrimination based on age and sex. The agency filed a lawsuit this year against the Reno Hilton this year and also recently settled a case against the Little Waldorf casino in Reno.