Maryland Live sued for claims of short pay

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Three former employees claim Maryland Live Casino owes them a payout — and not from the slot machines.

DeAnna Ganzermiller, a former benefits coordinator; Jennifer McMorrow, a former staff accountant; and Rhonda Sprinkle, a former payroll department employee, claim the casino failed to pay them overtime wages. Each seeks class-action status for the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore against PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC, the Baltimore company that owns Maryland Live.

Each woman alleges that she often worked 50- to 60-hour weeks and that her salary was never adjusted to account for the forced overtime, and that similarly situated employees were treated the same way.

The complaints were filed one after the other on Tuesday by the same law firm, Lebau & Neuworth LLC in Baltimore. Richard P. Neuworth deferred comment to The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl, which is of-counsel in the lawsuit. An attorney at the Nicholl firm, William C. Burgy, declined to comment on the case.

A spokeswoman for Maryland Live said the casino had no comment on pending litigation.

Ganzermiller and Sprinkle claim the casino violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Maryland Wage and Hour Law.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, salaried employees are not automatically exempt from the federal law’s overtime protections. Among other requirements, a salaried administrative employee’s primary duty must include the “exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.”

Ganzermiller, who lives in Joppatowne, worked for the casino from Feb. 1, 2012. until this April. She claimed she often worked 50-hour weeks, sometimes up to 90-hour weeks, and that her job consisted of reviewing insurance plans with employees, scheduling information sessions on plans and signing employees up for plans. However, she said she often had to stay after hours for work events; for example, on New Year’s Eve, she worked a full day and returned at 8 p.m. to serve drinks at a casino-hosted party.

McMorrow, who lives in Millersville, worked at the casino from April 30, 2012 to August 23, 2012. McMorrow usually worked from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and sometimes on weekends. McMorrow reviewed the casino’s accounts payable and accounts receivable journal entries, but was not a certified public accountant.

Sprinkle, who lives in Abingdon, alleges that she worked for the casino from Jan. 20, 2012 until September 2012, and that she often worked from 9:30 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m., and sometimes as late as 1 a.m. Overall, Sprinkle claimed she worked 60 to 65 hours a week, during which time her responsibilities included data entry — inputting employee time and information on new hires and employee termination.

All three also claim the casino failed to keep accurate records of their hours and failed to maintain postings informing them of their rights as employees under state and federal law.

Ganzermiller and Sprinkle are asking to be paid for overtime hours they worked, pre- and post-judgment interest and attorneys’ fees and costs under Maryland law. They are asking for the same relief under federal law plus liquidated damages.

Overtime lawsuits against casinos are not uncommon, but this appears to be the first against one in Maryland.

The state’s first casino, Hollywood Casino Perryville, opened in September 2010. Maryland Live opened at the Arundel Mills mall in Hanover in June 2012.

Financially, Maryland Live has been doing well since its opening. The casino, which is outfitted with a steakhouse, gourmet burger restaurant and live concert venue, originally opened with 3,200 slot machines, but now has 4,323 and 122 table games like blackjack and roulette.

Maryland Live saw a 48 percent spike in revenue in July compared to last year, according to a report released earlier this week. The casino generated $52.5 million of the total $69.27 million from all the state’s casinos.

The U.S. District Court cases are McMorrow v. PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC; Sprinkle v. PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC; and Ganzermiller v. PPE Casino Resorts Maryland LLC; case numbers 1:13-cv-02281, -02282 and -02283, respectively.