Farha/Townsend stiff dealer?

[Fubster]

So if I work for Wal-Mart, go home, and blog about some awful customer, I should be fired, no?

There's no reason for her to be fired. End of discussion. So she told an unbecoming story about a loyal patron of the Bellagio. Who cares? No basis for termination at all, no trade secrets involved, no oaths broken, no confidentiality agreements, implicit or implied, have been breached. She did absolutely nothing wrong. She is in the clear, both legally and ethically.

Anyone who seriously things that someone should be fired for something like this makes me sick.

[Don Olney]

A few years back, maybe two or three Linda posted a few things about the BIG GAME. Doug told her to take it off her blog.
SHE DID.

This tipping from the BIG ROLLS is old stuff anyway.

[SonofDjugashvili]

I have done some labour law in Canada, and since the US law is also based on the British common-law system, I am assuming the general principles are similar. If the employee in question has a contract, it's pretty simple - what they can & can't do as well as terms of termination are governed by the language in the contract. I will not get into issues of arguing validity of said contract, etc. If the employee does not have a contract, common law and labour legislation governs. First of all, an employer can fire an employee anytime for any reason, subject to proper notice and/or severance pay. An employee can also be fired for "cause" (e.g. drinking on the job, drugs, stealing, etc.), in which case no severance/notice is required. Unless the misconduct alleged is really bad, it is generally pretty difficult to fire someone for cause because you have to show that the person repeatedly engaged in some "behaviour", was warned several times, did not change, etc.
In Linda's case, assuming no specific contract, if I was her employer, I would certainly want to fire her because her conduct is bad for business. However, unless she has been repeatedly warned (ideally IN WRITING) about "naming names" and it's her HR file, I very much doubt this one incident constitutes "cause". So, I would fire her and pay her appropriate severance based on length of service - for someone in her position, 1-2 wks/year of service.
Hope that is somewhat helpful, and I apologize if the US law is a lot different.

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
So if I work for Wal-Mart, go home, and blog about some awful customer, I should be fired, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait a second... there was a case of this actually occurring with Wallmart recently, I'll try to find it. Funny how your post was attempting to disprove actually helped provide a case that employees cannot disclose customer habits without the fear of reprisal - which may or may not include termination.

[El Diablo]

TT,

"thats incorrect, she is "disclosing trade secrets""

LOL. Seriously, dude, I've told you this countless times. Stick to talking about stuff you know something about!

This has absolutely nothing to do with trade secrets.

This is a simple situation. If a casino doesn't want employees to talk about what happens in a game, they can have the employees sign a confidentiality agreement that covers what happens in those games. Part of their employment agreement will be that if they breach that confidentiality agreement, they can be let go for cause. Without something like this in their employment agreement, in most states they have little to no recourse against the employee for something like this.

This (blogging about work) has been a pretty widespread issue in the workplace now for a couple of years.

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[LasVegasMichael]

[ QUOTE ]
A few years back, maybe two or three Linda posted a few things about the BIG GAME. Doug told her to take it off her blog.
SHE DID.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is a difference between being told to do something and being asked to do it. Do we know if she was actually instructed to remove it, officially by Bellagio, or if she was asked to do it, and she complied to the request.

As an aside, I am fully confident that if Farha, Townsend, Dalton or anyone remotely involved asked her to remove the comments, she would in a heartbeat, as I firmly believe that the comments were posted rather innocently, with no malice intended.

[GregP]

Come on poeple, Linda has been posting stuff like this for MANY years, and her bosses have known about it the whole time. If they didn't like this post, or any other, all they have to do is ask Linda to take it down and she would. During the first Andy Beal game, something like that happened and it was no big deal. The idea of Linda being fired is laughably absurd. She's one of the most professional dealers in this city, and Bellagio knows it.

And that post wasn't even about getting stiffed, it was about the funny exchange w/ the girl. If she posted every time a big name stiffed her, it would take up 90% of the blog and her fingers might fall off from typing too much.

[RR]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a simple situation. If a casino doesn't want employees to talk about what happens in a game, they can have the employees sign a confidentiality agreement that covers what happens in those games. Part of their employment agreement will be that if they breach that confidentiality agreement, they can be let go for cause. Without something like this in their employment agreement, in most states they have little to no recourse against the employee for something like this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think in this case she is ok as it is well known they were in the casino. What most (maybe all) casinos do have a rule against is disclosing who is there.

[DayTripping]

Perhaps you should explain the same to the guy who was laughing his ass off that a high stakes player tipped a dealer a redbird. I assume you are a dealer since you're so pissed off at my opinion. BTW, I don't give a [censored] if a good dealer makes $100k/yr -- good for him. My only point is that someone who TIPS a redbird shouldn't be bashed for doing so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, now you sound different. In your other post you said words to the effect of no dealer has any business making more than 50k a year. I'm saying it's a free economy -- if that's what they make for dealing cards, that's what they make.

As for Townsend/Farha, in my opinion they do deserve to be bashed (Townsend in particular). Tipping is not mandatory, blah blah blah, we all now that. It is, however, an unwritten rule of basic courtesy and decency in our society that certain service-rendering employees (esp. the ones who rely on tips to make a decent living), are to be shown a small token of appreciation if they do a good job.

I'm not sure what you are referencing as far as the red bird, but it seems like Townsend didn't even give her that. Believe me, if he had tipped her a mere $5 after her down, we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion. It's the insult of giving the dealer absolutely nothing after an 8+ hour session that everybody finds so disturbing.

[chucktaylor]

Son of Stalin is correct on all counts.

Whether they are "trade secrets", which the most likely aren't, is completely irrelevant.