Wynn Las Vegas managers had long believed that Fontainebleau was trying to imitate the Wynn experience, even going so far as to poach some of their best employees. Now, the company has filed a lawsuit to stop it.
It began in mid-2022, a year and a half before Fontainebleau opened its doors on the Strip, when Fontainebleau's executive team was being formed. Wynn officials said Fontainebleau solicited Wynn executive employees knowing they were under contract and had noncompete agreements with Wynn that would prevent them from working at Fontainebleau for at least a year.
Executives from the two resorts met and, according to Wynn officials, agreed that Fontainebleau would not do it again.
But the problem persisted, even into February, according to Wynn, prompting the resort to file a lawsuit late Thursday in Clark County District Court accusing Fontainebleau of interfering with actual and potential contractual relationships.
Wynn's lawsuit names Fontainebleau Las Vegas II LLC, Fontainebleau Development LLC, Bowtie Development LLC, all doing business as Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and 10 unnamed individual defendants. The single-count, 10-page lawsuit asks the court for an injunction prohibiting Fontainebleau from continuing to try to recruit its employees and for damages in excess of $15,000, as determined by the court.
“It is clear that we want all Las Vegas operators to be successful; It is good for the city we all live in,” the company said in a statement issued after the lawsuit was filed. “We just want that to happen without interfering with the contractual agreements our employees have negotiated with us.”
The lawsuit paints a very clear picture of how Wynn officials believe Fontainebleau is trying to steal key pieces of their staff.
“…Fontainebleau simply cannot stop interfering with WLV’s employment contracts,” the lawsuit says. “Fontainebleau's conduct is indicative of an unhealthy obsession with everything related to Wynn, from its facilities to its employees.”
The lawsuit lists dates and names related to Fontainebleau's recruiting efforts, including coming to Wynn's property as paying guests to access workers they sought to persuade to leave the resort.
Most of the examples listed in the lawsuit concerned job postings for Wynn's nightlife, restaurant and line of executive chefs. In the lawsuit, Wynn cites nine instances in which a Fontainebleau executive contacted a Wynn employee. In some cases, hired employees reached out to their former Wynn colleagues to attract more.
