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Casino workers forfeit civil rights
"I was denied my opportunity to bring this before an impartial justice system," said Iacone, who lives in East Syracuse. "When you work for an Indian nation, you forfeit any civil rights an American citizen normally would be entitled to." Man says Nation workers lack rights Rich Iacone says "you forfeit civil rights" when working for Indian nations. Monday, April 30, 2007 By Glenn Coin Staff writer Rich Iacone was two months shy of his 60th birthday when he was fired last year after nearly 13 years at Turning Stone Resort and Casino. The federal agency that oversees age discrimination complaints wouldn't take Iacone's case against the Oneida Indian Nation, which owns Turning Stone, because the nation is a sovereign Indian tribe. Iacone couldn't go to court, either, because the nation is immune from lawsuits. "I was denied my opportunity to bring this before an impartial justice system," said Iacone, who lives in East Syracuse. "When you work for an Indian nation, you forfeit any civil rights an American citizen normally would be entitled to." Iacone's case raises the question of what kind of protections the Oneida Nation's nearly 5,000 employees have against workplace discrimination. Very little, some say. "You don't even have your rights under state and federal laws," said Greg Gorea, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local One, which has tried to unionize workers at Turning Stone. "I don't know how many people who work there know what rights they have and what rights they don't have." Oneida Nation officials declined to comment in detail. "Since the Oneida Nation government imposes its own employment rules and practices that exceed federal and state standards, the nation does not spend time debating issues concerning the application of other jurisdictions' laws," said nation spokesman Mark Emery. Indian casino gambling has grown to a $23 billion business with an estimated 250,000 employees nationwide. As casinos have boomed, there has been increasing pressure from courts and government agencies to require tribes to follow labor laws, said Philip Deloria, director of the American Indian Law Center in New Mexico. "Probably tribes are going to be moved gradually under these regulations," Deloria said. "It's a matter of one case at a time." The most recent case came from the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court, which ruled in February that the National Labor Relations Board had power over union organizing efforts at an Indian casino in California. While the court recognized that tribal governments are sovereign, it said that operating a casino "is not a traditional attribute of self-government. Rather, the casino at issue here is virtually identical to scores of purely commercial casinos across the country." Other appeals courts around the country have ruled that some federal labor laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Occupational Health and Safety Administration regulations, apply to Indian tribes. That hasn't extended to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which oversees discrimination complaints such as Iacone's. The agency in November told Iacone it had no jurisdiction over the Oneida Nation because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically exempted tribes. Iacone, who had collected on bad checks for the nation since 1993, says Turning Stone employees have no rights if they feel they've been the victims of discrimination by the nation. He said he was fired in May 2006 because of his age. All other managers in his department, he said, were younger than 40. Emery said the nation does not discriminate on the basis of age, and declined to comment specifically on Iacone's case. In a letter to Iacone in December, the nation's top attorney, Peter Carmen, said Iacone was terminated because there wasn't enough work to justify his job anymore. Iacone also had spent too much time in the break room and made a "minimal" number of calls to collect on bad checks, Carmen wrote. The nation offered Iacone a severance package of four weeks' salary. He refused, saying it was paltry and he would have to sign an agreement promising not to say or write anything negative about the nation for three years. "I wanted to retain my right to free speech," he said. In October, Iacone complained about his firing to the EEOC. The agency said in November it could do nothing, but told Iacone he could file a suit in federal court. Iacone first wrote to the nation proposing a settlement rather than a suit. Carmen responded by saying the nation was immune from lawsuits, and if Iacone filed one, "we will seek dismissal and recovery from you of the legal fees and costs the nation incurs." Iacone decided not to sue, and it's too late now. Under federal law, he had 90 days to file from the day he received the EEOC letter. That time expired in February. The Oneida Nation has contested federal oversight of Turning Stone. In 2003, federal inspectors fined Turning Stone $2,625 because restaurant employees wore the wrong gloves. Nation lawyers argued that a 1794 treaty forbids the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from enforcing laws against the tribe. OSHA lawyers said the Treaty of Canandaigua does not prohibit agency inspections at Turning Stone, which attracts millions of non-Indian visitors and employs thousands of non-Indians. "Clearly, the nation has no right 'to be left alone' by the federal government in the conduct of a commercial business in interstate commerce," agency lawyers wrote. The nation paid the fine in 2005, but only as a "strategic decision," while other sovereignty questions were pending in other cases, Emery said at the time. Glenn Coin can be reached at gcoin@syracuse.com or 470-3251. http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/index.ssf?/base/news-7/117793547540530.xml&coll=1 |
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