Don’t let attorney Ellen Whittemore see you without a mask if you’re playing at Wynn Las Vegas or Encore. She has no problem playing the role of bouncer.
The Wynn Resorts general counsel told a group of women gaming executives Thursday, on the final day of the SBC Digital Summit North America, that she takes the health of her employees very seriously and will do anything to protect them.
Whittemore spoke freely during an informal free-flowing networking session on women in gaming, saying she won’t shy away from telling a guest to put on a mask. She said she wasn’t happy with a social-media post in which a woman who videoed herself getting kicked out of their Las Vegas property claimed she had the right to be there without wearing a mask. Governor Steve Sisolak mandated masks be worn by customers in businesses throughout Nevada effective June 26.
“I worry about my customers, but I worry about the 8,000 to 9,000 people coming in to work every day,” Whittemore said. “I don’t want any of my employees to get sick. When a guest says I don’t want to wear the mask, I have no hesitancy to say, ‘Get out.’”
Whittemore then referenced the video that went viral in which the woman “posed for her 15 minutes” of trying to avoid being kicked out of Wynn.
“The security supervisor, a woman, was so patient with her,” Whittemore said. “I would have had the dogs on her after about three minutes of her nonsense. I just want to protect our employees. They don’t have a choice. They have to be back here (working). I don’t have any patience with people and I don’t hesitate to walk up to people sitting at a slot machine and telling them to put the mask back up over their nose.”
Whittemore said that reopening during a pandemic has been a challenge. She said she’s not a health-care expert, but admitted that she’s spent a lot of hours and days with the experts and operations people to develop a health-safety plan.
“You have to move very quickly,” Whittemore said. “I can’t tell you how many times at 8 a.m. we made a decision that we were going to do X and by noon, we were doing the exact opposite. Nobody gave us a playbook for this, nobody gave the scientists a playbook for this, and nobody told us how to operate in a pandemic. We’re all doing the best we can do, and every day we get up and figure out that what we’re going to do today is the best we can do for our employees and the best we can do for the state.”
Whittemore said it’s a different environment today — with no certainty. On a daily basis, the governor could issue an order that changes be made by midnight the next day or the operation has to close You have to be prepared for all scenarios.
“We could be added to a quarantine list from California. You go to Nevada and you have to be guaranteed for 14 days,” Whittemore said, throwing out the realm of possibilities. “That’s going to affect our business. Everything affects our business on a daily basis, and you have to be quick. You have to be willing to pivot and go with the flow on what the best decision is.”
The Wynn tested all of its employees for the coronavirus before they came back to work and in July so far, 1,200 employees have been tested, she said. Those tests will keep rolling. Employees already get their temperatures checked daily and have to pass a questionnaire to work that day.
The Wynn even has a page on its company employee site referred to as a “don’t-be-stupid” page. Employees can’t be made to wear masks outside of work, but they’re encouraged to do so and to social distance to protect themselves, she said.
“It says don’t go to that party, or hug that person, or if you go to a restaurant, eat outside,” Whittemore said. “Don’t be stupid and spread this, so we have to close down again.”
There’s even a program where employees are supposed to tell their supervisors if they think a fellow employee is sick, Whittemore said. Wynn increased sick pay to encourage employees to stay home, she said.
“We’re doing the best we can and our best is really dang good, and that’s all we can do.”
