Vail Resorts’ Friday court hearing in South Lake Tahoe could be packed with locals

As Vail Resorts prepares to settle a lawsuit alleging labor violations, Nevada and California locals are being urged to show up to Friday’s final settlement approval hearing at 1354 Johnson Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe.

“The attorneys from both sides representing this inadequate settlement hope to get it rubber stamped on Friday, June 17th at 1:30pmPDT,” according to a recent post on resortsettlementoptout.com. “But the judge still has to approve it. That’s where you come in.”

The suit involves all Vail Resorts workers who worked for the company between 2014 and 2021, a class of about 100,000.

Resortsettlementoptout.com is a website set up by a member of the class to inform other members of the class of their options regarding the suit. The website reported this week that 1,517 members of the class have opted out; 9,498 workers have agreed to the settlement; and 20,413 of the 101,839 class members never received the package in the mail.

Attorney plaintiffs have alleged that Vail Resorts requests employees to provide extra work off the clock and other unpaid labor and expenses in violation of federal labor laws.

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“Since ‘only’ 1,517 members of the class opted out, Vail cannot pull the settlement,” resortsettlementoptout.com reports. “But Judge (Michael) McLaughlin can deny final approval. If he does, either these attorneys can start working for a living and negotiate a better settlement or they can drop their lawsuit.”

A post on resortsettlementoptout.com says Vail Resorts started reforms this season to address some of the issues, despite the fact that the company has denied the allegations.

“This season Vail changed many of the practices described in the complaint. That’s a tacit admission that Vail did not ‘Do Right’ in the past,” according to the post. “Vail makes no commitment to ‘do right’ in the future. To ‘do right’ would mean accurately recording all the time we work and paying for it.”

In an effort to encourage the judge to deny the final approval, workers can show up to Friday’s hearing and tell Judge Michael McLaughlin why they object to the settlement.

“If needed, remind him that your Settlement Notice said that you could be heard at this Final Approval Hearing,” according to resortsettlementoptout.com. “Maybe Vail will get the message. That is, 1,517 people who can still sue (because we opted out) are looking for lawyers who will go to the mat for us. We want what Vail owes us. We want Vail to finish the wage reforms that started this season.”