SCOTUS Rejects Red Rock's Bid To Delay Bargaining

US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has rejected an emergency request from Red Rock Resorts to delay a federal order requiring its Summerlin casino to recognize and bargain with the Culinary Union.

Roberts, who handles emergency applications arising from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, denied the request on Friday, September 4, without explanation. 

The denial leaves in place a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order enforced by the D.C. Circuit, which requires Red Rock's parent company, Station Casinos, to bargain in good faith with the Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas, affiliated with Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.

A Station Casinos spokesperson said the casino brand will comply with the court order while continuing to challenge the underlying NLRB decision. "The NLRB decision overturned the clear vote of Red Rock team members rejecting the Culinary Union," the spokesperson said. 

"The decision prevents any company from granting benefits to its employees if it is aware of union interest in unionizing the company’s employees and nullifies the Red Rock team members’ vote to be union-free, all because Station Casinos treated its team members too well."

The dispute dates back to a union election at Red Rock in December 2019, when employees voted against union representation. 

The NLRB later found that Station Casinos had interfered with the process by rolling out improved employee benefits shortly before the vote, across all 10 of its Las Vegas properties. 

The agency determined in 2022 that a fair re-run election could not realistically be held, and issued a so-called Gissel bargaining order compelling Red Rock to recognize the union despite the vote outcome - a remedy grounded in the Supreme Court's 1969 ruling in N.L.R.B. v. Gissel Packing Co.

Red Rock's challenges to that order have repeatedly failed in the courts. The D.C. Circuit denied the company's petition for review in June and granted enforcement of the bargaining order, then denied a rehearing request in August. 

The appeals court also rejected Red Rock's request to stay its own mandate on August 24 while the casino pursued Supreme Court review, prompting Station Casinos to turn to Roberts directly.

Roberts' denial does not rule on the merits of Red Rock's planned petition for full Supreme Court review, nor does it indicate whether the justices will ultimately take up the case. 

It does, however, mean the NLRB's order - including a requirement that Red Rock hold meetings on working time where employees' rights are explained in English and Spanish in front of senior management and an NLRB representative - is enforceable while that petition proceeds.

The case is being closely watched in Nevada's gaming and hospitality sector, where Culinary Union Local 226 represents tens of thousands of hospitality workers on the Las Vegas Strip and has a long history of organizing drives against non-union operators, including Station Casinos' portfolio of off-Strip properties.