Complaint Review: Mono Wind Casino And Big Sandy Rancheria Gaming Commission - Auberry California

For almost two years I was employed as a day shift card dealer at Mono Wind Casino in Auberry, CA. During that time I was a model example of customer service and was never once late or reprimanded.

When the new tribal council hired Andrew Bustamante, (LT. Governor Cruz Bustamante's brother) as General Manager at the end of 2002, immediate cutbacks began and graveyard shift in the card room was eliminated. A floor supervisor in the card room was terminated for failing to track over $8,000 in losses his first swing shift after graveyard closure. He was denied unemployment. Upon that denial I began investigating the circumstances surrounding his termination and found the evidence to exonerate him. I immediately took that proof to the Director of Gaming Commissioners, Liz Kipp; Andrew Bustamante and the casino controller. The casino was fully aware that the supervisor was fired for something he didn't do. An appeal letter was sent to the California State Employment Development Department and a hearing was granted for April 1, 2003.

During this same time frame, a background check of the young supervisor was almost complete by the State of California Department of Corrections for employment as a correctional officer. The casino had a background questionnaire from the state in the HR Department to verify his employment there. I met with Andrew Bustamante about that background check and told him that if derogatory information were mailed to the state investigator, the former floor supervisor's employment future would be ruined over something we all knew he didn't do. Bustamante told me It wasn't supposed to go this far. He immediately called the Director of HR, Ms. Padilla (tribal member), and her assistant, Manny into his office to address the response to the state investigator. Within a few days I asked Bustamante if the letter were prepared and his reply was, If he doesn't get the job, it won't be because of the casino. I falsely assumed all was corrected.

On April 1, 2003 I attended the young man's EDD Hearing with a copy of the tables games counts for the day he was fired for. The counts were incorrect, and probably made deliberately so by someone at the casino. These were, however, the false numbers that got him fired. Ms. Padilla, although fully aware of the young man's innocence, was also at the hearing to prevent the EDD from charging the unemployment claim to the casino. She swore to tell the truth, and then under oath she told the judge the young supervisor was responsible for losses in excess of $8,000. Then I was called to testify. I presented the tables games counts to Ms. Padilla and explained their flaws. Since Ms. Padilla already knew the counts were wrong, she recanted her claim and admitted the young man was not responsible. Case was over.

I went to work on April 1st, worked the second, and was called to the gaming commissioner's office on the third and my gaming license was revoked by Liz Kipp, the same person I had entrusted to clear up the young man's record. Ms. Padilla was so mad at me for her EDD loss that she wrote my termination papers out April 1st. Then she failed to sign them. I received unemployment compensation and the young man won his appeal. The casino never fought my unemployment claim. Considering they fired me for taking confidential casino documents to an EDD Hearing you'd think they would have contested my claim. Personal experience and knowledge of the way they operate kept me from appealing my termination and revocation. At least half a dozen other dayshift card room employees knew the evidence I gathered existed and a few had even seen it for themselves. I would not allow the casino to destroy their lives too.

By the way, that letter to the young man's CA State background investigator was never mailedpurposely withheld by Ms. Padilla out of spite.

Now, I have a few things to say about their rules of confidentiality, etc. Those rules are there for them to use only to their own advantage. In early September of 2003, Ms. Padilla met with the Ca State Department of Corrections investigator. Not only did she deliberately lie to them in order to sabotage the young man's chance for employment, she lied about me as well in order to make his exoneration with the EDD look like a planned fabrication. The state's investigator told the young man that the casino (Ms. Padilla) said they had seen him hand me the tables games counts sheets that I took to the EDD Hearing. Funny thing is I never got those papers in my own hands until mid-February. He was terminated in early January and never entered the card room after that. When the young man told the investigator there were others in the card room that knew he was innocent, the investigator countered with a questionasking him if they are the former employees the casino was in the process of prosecuting. The individuals to whom the investigator was referring were fired in late April and never worked with either the young man or me. The HR Director of Mono Wind breeched casino confidentiality in order to deliberately attempt to associate the young man with illegal activity at the casino: something he had absolutely nothing to do with.

Glenda Padilla has used her position as Director of Human Resources at Mono Wind Casino to carry out vendettas in the name of Mono Wind Casino and under the guise of her gaming license. The State of California possesses two separate tape-recorded conversations verifying that Ms. Padilla committed perjury and intentionally gave false information in a direct attempt to slander the former floor supervisor in the eyes of a prospective employer.

Mono Wind Casino and the Big Sandy Rancheria Gaming Commission know what happened the night of January 2-3, 2003. A properly completed investigation occurred only after my termination. I personally pray someone of a higher authority conducts a thorough investigation. I know there are strict guidelines and rules governing the handling of casino monies and accounting practices. I am also as sure that someone intentionally coerced that process to fabricate a case for an employee's termination. The individuals who participated in that process still have their gaming licenses. My only crime was to stand up to an injustice. Aren't honesty and strong moral conviction principles for which a gaming license stands? I'm the only one who lost mine and I would like the revocation of license reversed. Without it I can never work in gaming again and I loved every minute of it.

Many weeks ago I learned that the casino was looking for a way to get rid of the acting card room director. A couple of weeks ago they did it: for swearing in the break room. As I said beforethey use the rules only when it benefits them. They are opportunistic to the point that if they want to terminate you, they will tighten the rules enough to do it in a manner to prevent employment compensation claims.

John Q Public has absolutely no idea how devastating the aftermath of employment on sovereign territory can be in the current structure. To those casinos that voluntarily abide by the common law expected in civilized America, I applaud them and pray their tribal members reap infinite benefit from their deeds. What goes around comes around and God bless you. I just wish all would learn from your examples.

I have been in contact with numerous other former employees of Mono Wind Casino and the gaming commission's office, some recently terminated under questionable circumstances and together we have compiled close to a dozen separate stories that will soon be mailed to between 15 and 20 different government agencies and officials. If someone would have the courage to make a formal inquiry I have names, numbers, documentation; a substantial amount of evidence and testimony to prove every allegation I have made and many more that stands to threaten the integrity of Indian Gaming. The list is more than trivial; failure to process and pay worker's compensation claims, blatant violations of US and CA State labor codes, misuse of insurance premiums, deliberate fabrication of false causes for termination in attempts to thwart due unemployment claims, intentionally providing false information to government agencies in order to defame and slander former innocent employees, and the list goes on.

This brings me to a few questions no one seems to be able to answer. How is it that employees working on the equivalent of foreign soil are required to pay federal and state taxes to a government that refuses to take action to defend those same employees? Why are casinos built in sovereign territory exempt from following the same labor laws that govern every other business that operates within the borders of the United States of America? And why are there no attorneys ready to take on a cause other than the rights of sovereignty? Where's a lawyer willing to file a class action suit against the same government bodies for which income taxes are collected and whom fail to provide protection under the law?

Perhaps if the federal and state governments required adherence to the law in all tribal compacts, and then actually investigated violation claims instead of passing them down to the gaming commission's office that's supposed to be the watchdog of the casino instead of the casino's protector, there might be some sense of security for those taxpayers employed by Indian casinos. And maybe instead of announcing the forthcoming construction of a new $200 million off-reservation casino, this particular casino would first be forced to repair the damage they've done to so many ex-employees they've trampled on along their way to those big money backers.

Susan

Tollhouse, California
U.S.A.