Former Wynn Las Vegas cocktail server Tiare Ramirez, a founding Wynn employee, was awarded $321,200 by a U.S. District Court jury last month.
A Wynn Las Vegas cocktail server was awarded $321,200 by a U.S. District Court jury after a five-day trial in which she said she was wrongfully fired for abusing the company’s Family and Medical Leave Act policies.
The jury said Tiare Ramirez, a founding Wynn cocktail server hired in November 2008 and terminated in November 2017, proved her claim that Wynn interfered with her FMLA rights when the company fired her.
The jury denied her claim that Wynn also violated the plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act rights.
The $321,200 award was for lost wages and compensatory, emotional distress, liquidated and punitive damages.
Ramirez filed a lawsuit against Wynn in 2019 and the trial concluded Oct. 25.
Officials with Wynn did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
During the trial, testimony indicated Ramirez attended a March 21, 2017, gender reveal party with co-workers at Town Square before she was scheduled to work at Wynn Las Vegas that day. That day, she called in to say she could not work and was using FMLA time off.
But pictures of her at the party posted on Facebook showed her wearing high-heeled shoes.
A Wynn employee started an investigation into the plaintiff’s potential misuse of FMLA on March 22, 2017. The investigation was delayed several times and Ramirez submitted a note from a physician indicating she would need additional time off through December 2017. She said she was suffering flare-ups from ankle problems as a result of wearing high heels.
Wynn’s policy for cocktail servers is to wear high heels of at least 1¾ to 2 inches.
By mid-September 2017, Ramirez had exhausted time off allowable through FMLA policy and through a collective bargaining agreement through her union.
But after completing the investigation, Wynn fired Ramirez on Nov. 2, 2017, and stated the reason for termination was “willful misconduct, dishonesty and misuse of FMLA-ADA.”
The jury foreman signed off on the FMLA interference claim, but not the ADA discrimination claim on Oct. 25. The trial was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Gordon.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
