Seniority

The Culinary Union has contracts with more than 45 different employers. Most have language that is very similar, but there can be differences. Call the Union at
702-385-2131 to speak to your organizer or a grievance specialist for answers to specific questions or to ask questions about the contract with your employer.

The Culinary Union contract has a dual seniority system:
House / Classification.

House seniority in most contracts is defined as: An employee’s length of continuous service in years, months and days from the employee’s most recent date of hire into the bargaining unit as a regular, steady-extra or part-time employee by the employer. (Simply put, your hire or transfer date into a Culinary Union job at your present employer.)

• House seniority governs nearly all situations such as vacation, wages, layoff and recall.
• If you are a casino employee, the company you work for may own several casinos, but your seniority is at the casino you work at now. House seniority for layoff and recall purposes does not transfer to another casino even if owned by the same company. Some companies may let you keep your vacation and 100% pay rate if you transfer to another casino they own, but they can’t give you seniority for the purpose of layoff and recall.

Classification seniority is defined in most contracts as: An employee’s length of continuous service in years, months and days from the employee’s most recent date of hire into or transfer into his/her present job classification on a full-time basis. (Simply put, the length of time you have worked in your current classification. For example Cook, Housekeeper, Food Server or Kitchen Worker. For many workers classification and house seniority dates are the same. The reason your house and classification seniority could be different is if you have changed your job classification by transfer, promotion or go from steady-extra or part-time to full time.)

• Classification Seniority is used to bid for new jobs such as a vacancy created when another worker leaves the company, changes shift or station through the bidding process or a new portion of the establishment is opened and entirely new jobs are created.
• Classification Seniority begins for a part-time or steady extra employee when they take a full-time job, but their House seniority dates back to their original hire date.
• In most contracts part-time and steady extra employees get available extra or part-time work in order of seniority amongst themselves. (Simply put, they work according to an independent seniority list just for part-time or steady extra employees.)