Las Vegas Hotel CEO Pledges to Continue Employees Pay Through October

In a note to staff this week, Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson, one of the most high-profile billionaires in the world, promised to continue paying employees through the end of October.

That includes benefits and it includes those who might still not be working.

The Sands Corp. has 8,000 employees at its U.S. hotels, which include The Venetian and The Palazzo in Las Vegas.

“To my knowledge, we are the only company in our industry and likely one of few in the broader hospitality industry who has not furloughed or laid off employees because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Adelson, Sands’ CEO and Chair, wrote in the July 29 letter to employees reviewed by The New York Post. “Since closing our doors in Las Vegas on March 17, and having now been reopened since early June, a top priority of our management team has been the health, safety, and livelihood of our team members who are the foundation of our great company.

Las Vegas slowly began reopening on June 4 as all hotels and casinos implemented new health and safety measures. It was a vicious fight to get the city reopened; Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman was adamant about opening more sooner than later, given the city’s almost universal reliance on tourism, while Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak was more cautious.

But now that Las Vegas has almost two months under its belt, it’s been a slow return to business.

The Venetian, for instance, is presently 25 percent occupied during the week, and 50 percent occupied on the weekend, Las Vegas Sands President and COO Rob Goldstein told The Post. Workers are being rotated so as many as possible can get some hours in although everyone is still getting paid the same amount they were pre-pandemic.