It seems like controversies pitting female workers, and Wynn Resorts is far from reaching a conclusion. Earlier last week, nine female staffs launched a lawsuit against the ex-CEO Steve Wynn over sexual harassment accusation.
Wynn Resorts’ founder isn’t new to legal proceedings that surround female employees. It was only in 2018 January, that women workers filed a case against Wynn over allegations of workplace sexual harassment targeting women workers.
Wynn Resorts Holdings house the famous Wynn Poker. Two years ago, it was estimated that the holding had 25200 employees, cutting across all genders. Wynn Resorts Holding has now been active for seventeen years, fetching high revenues during the said period. However, controversies keep on emerging, causing the firm to lose much of the revenues due to fines that courts slap on them.
The sexual allegation was the reason why Steve Wynn vacated his position in February 2018 to pave way for investigations into the matter. Wynn’s place was taken by Matthew Maddox, who pledged to fight the vice and claim back the good reputation the firm had enjoyed in the past.
After the forceful departure of the founder, Maddox made the mission to fight gender harassment vivid when he fired two senior officers. Ray Irani and Alvin Shoemaker were both serving in the Board, but Maddox announced their planned exit only a month after Steve Wynn had quitted. The exit of the duo was widely viewed as an attempt to appeal to corporate entities about culture change.
Maddox further nominated three females to be part of the board of directors, a move that clearly showed the new boss’s commitment to improving the working environment for female workers. The three women that Maddox nominated were Wendy Webb, Dee Dee Myers, and Betsy Atkins.
The efforts of the new CEO seemed not to bear any gainful fruits when Maddox himself suffered heavy fines for sexual misconduct allegations in 2019, May. The firm was compelled to release a payment of $35 million to Massachusetts Gaming Commission as a fine. It never ended at that as Wynn Resorts had to part with $500000 fine for the accusation levied against Maddox.
The holding finds itself in the murky water once again, with nine employees attached to either Encore Salon or the Resort filing a lawsuit against the founder. The lawsuit revealed that the Wynn Country Club was the venue of a mandatory meeting consisting of salon workers. The event reportedly took place soon after the commencement of the previous misconduct allegations.
The meeting was viewed as intimidating, with workers being asked to raise their hands if they had suffered sexual harassment at the facility. For fear of victimization at work, no female worker attempted to raise her hands to affirm the question.
Upon the end of the mandatory meeting, Steve Wynn walked in, in company of camera crews in readiness to throw a birthday celebration for an unidentified 80-year old employee. It was at this party that Steve Wynn reportedly prepared several female workers for physical contacts. The magnitude of the interaction involved hugging and deep lip-kissing.
The recent lawsuit comes at the backdrop of another legal proceeding against the company. It’s almost a fortnight since female workers in the 2018 harassment accusation version sued the firm for intimidation at the workplace.
It’s reported that Maurice Wooden and Troy Mitchum are under instructions to aid in concealing the story as soon as it emerges. Wooden is the Wymm Resorts’ president, while Mitchum is the ex-vice president of human resources.
Wynn Resorts risk losing a further financial fine should the case go against the company. If successful, each of the nine plaintiffs will receive compensation of at least $50000.
