Harrahs New Orleans

[malo]

Feelix......you just said what I have been thinking. Harrah's has three casinos worth of employees.....and probably virtually all of these folks have lost everything.

Hope to see them do the right thing here.....but not holding my breath......

September 1: Recovery Starts Here

Help our Gulf Coast employees affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The Harrah's Foundation has donated $1 million to help our employees. If you would like to contribute to the Gulf Coast recovery effort, make your check payable to "The Harrah's Employee Recovery Fund." All donations, including $1 million from the Harrah's Foundation, will go immediately to help our fellow employees and their families recover from the hurricane.

Let's give them a hand, so they can get back on their feet. Bring your checks to your property's Human Resources office.




Date: September 2, 2005
To: All Harrah's Entertainment Employees
From: Jerry Boone - Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Nizar Jabara - Vice President of Compensation, Benefits & HRSS
Subject: Benefits Relief for New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulfport Employees

In response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the first priority of Harrah's Entertainment is the safety and well-being of our nearly 8,000 employees in the Gulf region. In addition to the numerous relief and recovery efforts that the company has initiated, employees of Grand Casino Biloxi, Grand Casino Gulfport, Harrah's New Orleans and the Mid-South Service Center will continue to receive their base pay for 90 days, and will continue to be covered for enrolled benefits including health care and 401(k) plans.

For the same 90-day period, a number of benefits requirements are being eased to help our employees in the affected regions deal with the emergency:

For enrolled hourly and non-management employees, health care premiums will be paid by the company.
Payroll deductions for 401(k) loan payments have been suspended. Automatic contributions will continue and will be matched at the customary rate.
Preauthorization requirements for medical care are suspended.
Medical claims will be paid in-network, regardless of where care is received or whether or not the provider is part of the network.
Prescription drugs can be replaced before they are scheduled for a refill at no cost to the employee.
Time and frequency limits are removed for eye exams, eyeglasses and contacts.
Any 401(k) loan or withdrawal request will receive priority processing.

[MicroBob]

as the other post indicates..it's already been announced that the Harrah's employees are receiving pay-checks for the next 90 days...which I think is a very classy move.

the quarter is the only section of the city not flooded...so who knows?

[xtingshun]

Harrahs should enact something to get the employees jobs and similar positions through out the US in one of the other millions of casinos.. like St. Louis isn't incredibly far..etc.. I'm sure they could fit alot of them into positions at the other casinos.. just for temporary relief so the people may work and have some place to go...

[Easy E]

I always had the impression that Harrah's treats their employees pretty decently and looks out for them in extreme situations.

Now, the customers, on the other hand, might not be on the same level... at least poker players.

Rebuttals?

[feelixthegreek]

Glad to hear that, though I wonder how it applies to tip-oriented positions like poker dealers and cocktail servers.

[MicroBob]

well...regular dealers are 'tip-oriented' too.

Usually it's something like a base hourly wahe of $5.50...and then the pool tip-rate is somewhere around $12-$17/hr on top of that (depending on where you deal).

So now that I think about it....they might be paying all their blackjack dealers just the regular hourly-wage without the tip-rate too.


I know a couple of blackjack dealers at the Grand and Horseshoe in Tunica. When I head down there next I'll see if they've heard any rumors as to how much the out-of-work gulf-coast dealers are getting.


Also - many many dealers are just technically part-time (even though they are working 32-40 hours a week they don't get regular health-insurance for example).
So it's possible that they are only taking care of the full-timers....which certainly does not include all dealers.

Correct.. I'm a table games dealer at Harrah's Lake Charles, and we make a low base wage ($4-$6) + a toke rate (anywhere from $14-$20 an hour on top). I'm not sure if they're just getting the base pay or not.

I don't know about other properties, but all of our table games employees here in LC are full-time.. the only ones that are part-time are the ones that legitimately work 2-3 days a week.

Harrah's has also said that the out-of-work employees would be able to get on at other properties.. not sure when that will happen though, I haven't seen anyone come into LC yet.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
which I think is a very classy move.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very classy. Those who work for smaller companies probably won't be afforded the same luxury.

If I was a Harrah's employee, I'd feel like I worked for a good company that cared for me, and I think it would make me work even harder for them.