Wynn Las Vegas is accused of discriminating against a U.S. Army veteran who was working for them as a security guard and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit Friday in Las Vegas, alleging the company refused to accommodate the veteran and aggravated his condition by suspending him.
The lawsuit says the employee served in Iraq and started working in 2007 as an unarmed security officer on bike patrol.
The guard's PTSD flared up in 2010, shortly after Wynn began requiring security officers to work mandatory overtime. The lawsuit says the employee asked for a modified schedule but wasn't accommodated, and was suspended after accusing the company of discrimination.
Wynn Resorts released the following statement regarding the EEOC lawsuit:
This action by the EEOC is an example of their frequent irresponsible and ill-conceived actions that often ignore the obvious facts, and in this case, the truth. We are deeply disappointed that the EEOC decided to file a lawsuit three years after our last communication on this matter, rather than contact us and engage in the real work necessary to help an employee ensnared in medical and government bureaucracy. Our company makes work accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and was fully prepared to do the same for this employee. Unfortunately, the employee was unable to obtain the certification required by government regulation which would allow us to fairly make an accommodation for him. The company worked with the employee for months to help him obtain the necessary medical certification. Eventually, the employee resigned; he was not terminated. We did not discriminate against the employee on the basis of an alleged disability. Wynn Resorts profoundly resents the false accusations of the EEOC in taking this action and intends to prove that in court.
