Dealer sues Meadows’ former owners over tip pool distribution
A dealer at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino is suing the venue’s former owners, alleging they underpaid him and breached state law by paying table game supervisors money from a tip pool.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Washington County Court, attorneys for Timothy Miller, who’s been a dealer at the casino since July 2010, wrote the North Strabane Township casino distributes the pooled tips, known as “tokes,” to gaming employees in supervisory positions as well as dealers, “thereby depriving dealers of tokes/tips that they have earned and to which they are entitled.”
The lawsuit includes breach-of-contract claims and a claim under the state wage payment and collection law.
Miller’s attorneys cited language in the gaming law that bars “a key employee, box person, floorperson or any other gaming employee who serves in a supervisory position from soliciting or accepting … a tip or gratuity from a patron of the slot machine licensee.”
The lawsuit names Cannery Casino Resorts LLC and its former subsidiaries, Washington Trotting Association Inc. and Washington Trotting Association LLC.
The state Gaming Control Board approved the transfer of The Meadows’ slot license from Washington Trotting Association in September to Pinnacle Entertainment, which now operates the casino.
The lawsuit doesn’t mention Pinnacle or Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc., which now owns the real estate.
Attorneys from Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, who represent Miller, couldn’t be reached Wednesday.
The lawsuit is filed as a class action, with Miller purporting to represent all table game dealers who’ve worked at the casino for the last four years.
The casino employed 1,325 people as of June 30, according to the lawsuit. Of those, 325 were active table game employees. Gross revenue from table games there reportedly exceeded $32 million in gross revenue in the 2015-16 fiscal year.