Red Rock Casino must comply with a federal labor order requiring it to recognize and bargain with the Culinary Union after U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the Las Vegas casino’s emergency request to delay enforcement.
Roberts, who handles emergency applications arising from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, denied the application Friday, September 4, without explanation. The docket entry in Red Rock LLC v. National Labor Relations Board stated: “Application denied by the Chief Justice.”
The denial leaves the National Labor Relations Board’s order enforceable while Red Rock pursues a planned Supreme Court challenge. It does not prevent the casino from asking the court to hear its appeal or indicate whether the justices will take the case.
The order requires Red Rock to recognize and bargain in good faith with the Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas, affiliated with Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165, upon request. The casino must also stop unfair labor practices and anti-union interference.
Red Rock is further required to post notices in employee areas for 60 days, mail notices to current and former bargaining-unit employees who have worked at the casino since September 2019, and conduct meetings during working hours where employee rights are read in English and Spanish. Senior management and an NLRB representative must attend, along with a union representative if the union chooses.
Several compliance deadlines depend on service of the order by the NLRB’s Las Vegas-based Region 28 office, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The dispute stems from a December 2019 union election that the Culinary Union lost. The NLRB found Red Rock committed numerous unfair labor practices surrounding the vote, including coercive conduct and discriminatory actions against union supporters, and concluded the conduct interfered with employees’ ability to freely choose representation.
The union has also alleged that Station Casinos, Red Rock Resort’s parent company, posted anti-union messages in break rooms, threatened workers involved in organizing efforts, and announced pay increases shortly before the election to influence voting. Station Casinos has denied interfering and has said its employees were already paid above what Culinary members received at other Las Vegas casinos.
Red Rock has argued the union raised the allegations because it lost the election and that companywide benefit enhancements cited by the NLRB had been approved before the union filed its representation petition.
“Upset at the loss, the union filed unfair labor practice charges and objections, principally claiming that Red Rock (through Station Casinos) unlawfully and objectionably influenced the outcome of the election by promising, granting, and announcing improved benefits before the vote. There was nothing extraordinary or unusual about Station Casinos’ decision to improve benefits for its 14,000 employees across ten properties, nine of which were not Red Rock,” the application read.
In 2022, the NLRB found that a fair election could not reasonably be expected at a Station Casinos property because of the company’s interference. The agency issued a 2024 decision ordering Red Rock to recognize and bargain with the union. The D.C. Circuit upheld that decision in June, denied a rehearing request in August 2026, and later rejected Red Rock’s bid to stay the mandate.
Red Rock turned to Roberts on August 29, arguing that compliance before Supreme Court review would cause irreparable harm. Its planned petition will challenge when employee benefit increases can justify a bargaining order and whether the NLRB adequately considered circumstances that changed after the 2019 election.
A Station Casinos spokesperson said the company will comply with the order while continuing to dispute the NLRB decision.
“The NLRB decision overturned the clear vote of Red Rock team members rejecting the Culinary Union,” the spokesperson said, as reported by the Review-Journal.
“The decision prevents any company from granting benefits to its employees if it is aware of union interest in unionizing the company’s employees and nullifies the Red Rock team members’ vote to be union-free, all because Station Casinos treated its team members too well.”