Date: November 9, 2017

Law360 reported on TELG client Linda Barrick's filing of a proposed class action lawsuit against Penn National Gaming, owner of the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia. Ms. Barrick claims that the casino illegally diverts money from an employee tip pool to cover other costs.

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A West Virginia casino owned by Penn National Gaming Inc. got hit with a workers’ wage suit Wednesday as dealers alleged that the casino breaks state and federal law because it relies on a pooled tip fund to finance payment of future paid time off that employees may never receive.

Lead plaintiff Linda Barrick, a dealer at the PNGI subsidiary Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, asserted in her complaint that tips collected at the casino accrue in a pool to be distributed according to the number of hours each employee works, but that the casino dips into the fund without notifying dealers to finance payment of future paid time off on days when the common pool generates higher wages.

Hollywood Casino’s method of tip-dipping is based on a written contract that dealers must sign, according to Barrick. She brought the suit as a proposed class action asserting claims for breach of contract and violations of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, as well as a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

“As a result of defendants’ knowing and willful failures to pay plaintiff and other similarly situated employees and former employees at a rate commensurate with federal minimum wage requirements, defendants are liable to plaintiff and other similarly situated employees and former employees for violations of the FLSA and the WPCA,” Barrick’s suit said.

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