MGM Mirage Settles Race Bias Lawsuit With EEOC

MGM Mirage has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the casino operator of discriminating against black and Latino job applicants at its Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

A group of black and Latino applicants will get $840,000 in cash compensation, and the rest of the money will pay for new training programs at the Las Vegas-based company, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday. The agency filed the lawsuit and announced the settlement at the same time.

The allegations of discrimination date from Jan. 1, 1996, to May 31, 1997, a period before what was then called MGM Grand Inc. bought Mirage Resorts Inc., the EEOC said. MGM Mirage agreed to undergo EEOC monitoring for three years to ensure such discrimination doesn’t happen again.

“In addition to providing a substantial amount of monetary relief to the victims, the settlement puts in place extensive mechanisms to help prevent discrimination in the future,” Olophius Perry, director of the EEOC’s Los Angeles office, which has jurisdiction for Nevada, said in a statement that was jointly distributed by the EEOC and MGM Mirage.

Debbie Thomas, vice president of human resources for the Mirage, said the company in 2000 implemented “the industry’s first formal diversity program” and more than half the employees are of minority backgrounds.

“We are proud of our record on diversity and look forward to supplementing our existing training efforts with those agreed to as part of this settlement,” Thomas said in the statement.

Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage also operates the MGM Grand Las Vegas and the New York-New York Hotel and Casino as well as other hotel and casino resorts.

Shares of MGM Mirage climbed $1.48 to close at $34.10 in New York Stock Exchange trading.