Las Vegas: Culinary Union to sue casinos alleging hazardous working conditions

The Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 workers in Nevada who work at hotels and casinos on the Strip and Downtown, announced on Saturday they have filed a lawsuit against  major Las Vegas Strip casino companies in order to "protect workers from the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace."

According to a release sent out by the Culinary Union, the companies have failed to properly warn, protect, and quarantine workers when a coworker tests positive for COVID-19. The union also claims that the companies don't properly disinfect the premises.

BREAKING: Culinary Union to file a lawsuit on Monday against major Las Vegas Strip casino companies in order to protect workers from the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.https://t.co/p3gNJ1Y1jW pic.twitter.com/X8DMx2mmK4

— The Culinary Union (@Culinary226) June 27, 2020

"The lawsuit alleges casino hotels have not protected workers, their families, and their community from the spread of COVID-19, and that the current rules and procedures in place for responding to workers contracting COVID-19 have been wholly and dangerously inadequate," the statement said.

The release did not name which companies will be included in the suit.

The union will hold a press conference today about the lawsuit, during which they plan to go over further details of the suit. The Culinary Union says they are tracking what local employers are doing to prevent COVID-19 in the following areas:

• Requiring daily cleaning of guest rooms
• Mandatory testing of all employees for COVID-19 before returning to work and regular testing thereafter
• Providing adequate COVID-19 PPE for employees
• Enforcing social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention measures
• Requiring guests to wear face masks in all public areas
• Posting a COVID-19 safety plan on public-facing website

The press conference will be held at 11 a.m.