Tourist-reliant trio of businesses deliver dreary news on jobs
Three tourism-driven businesses with operations in Las Vegas have warned the state of potential layoffs and long-term furloughs.
Penn National Gaming, Hilton Grand Vacations and Nellis Cab Co. have all had to furlough workers as visitation rates in Nevada remain far below pre-pandemic levels.
Penn National Gaming, which operates the Tropicana and M Resort, said up to 241 layoffs could be on the horizon at corporate offices in Las Vegas and Pennsylvania.
A similar notice was sent by the
Tropicana this month stating that up to 620 workers could be laid off beginning Oct.15.
On Wednesday, Penn National spokesman Jeff Morris told the Review-journal the company had a legal obligation to send the formal notice to Tropicana workers, and “that does not necessarily mean that all those team members will be laid off.” He said the same holds true for the notice regarding corporate positions.
The letters comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which is meant to ensure
that employees have notice before significant layoffs so they have time to find work elsewhere.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website, a 60-day notice is required if a company with at least 100 full-time employees plans to lay off at least 50 people at a single site.
Penn National’s most recent WARN Act letter said eight corporate employees could be laid off beginning Sept. 20 in addition to
233 workers at the Pennsylvania and Las Vegas offices who were already notified about potential layoffs beginning in a two-week period from Aug. 15.
“These layoffs at Penn National Gaming are the unfortunate result of COVID-19 related business circumstances that were sudden, dramatic and beyond our control,” the letter reads.
Las Vegas-based Nellis Cab Co. is set to permanently lay off 160 employees Sept. 19.
The affected positions were initially furloughed March 20, when Nellis Cab expected that the layoffs would last only six months, not be permanent.
Aside from the 160 employees being laid off, Nellis Cab also alerted 135 employees not being permanently laid off that they may not return to work within the six months as originally projected in March.
On July 3, Orlando, Florida-based Hilton issued a notice to employees at four Las Vegas properties — Hilton Grand Vacations Elara, Hilton Grand Vacations Flamingo, Hilton Grand Vacations Las Vegas Boulevard and Hilton Grand Vacations Paradise — warning that furloughs for up to 994 employees could last longer than six months.
Employees were initially furloughed March 27 and April 3, depending on their location of work.
The company plans to fully reopen its properties “when the climate allows” but said it’s not sure when that will be.
“While we continue to hope these furloughs will be temporary, in light of the current and unexpected circumstances, we are now unsure when we will be able to return the affected employees to work on a consistent basis,” the letters state. “The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Nevada makes it clear now that there will be additional challenges posed to the travel and hospitality industries in Nevada.”
Employees do not have bumping rights. A spokeswoman for Hilton did not respond to a request for comment.
Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter. Contact Mick Akers at makers@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.