Beaver Creek workers sue Vail Resorts in wage dispute

BROOMFIELD — A trio of Beaver Creek Ski Resort employees are suing owner Vail Resorts in a wage dispute that alleges the Broomfield-based resort operator has engaged in a pattern of withholding wages and overtime pay.

Plaintiffs Randy Quint, John Linn, and Mark Molina are asking the U.S. District Court in Denver to certify a class action suit for all of Vail’s similarly situated seasonal employees across its portfolio of resorts. The suit claims the firm doesn’t compensate workers for their time traveling on company transportation to and from resorts, or for the time it takes to put on and remove company-mandated gear and for training. 

“Vail Resorts has exploited plaintiffs and thousands of other seasonal employees in violation of federal and state labor laws for years, and these egregious practices continue to the present,” according to the complaint filed this month by California-based attorneys Edward Dietrich and Benjamin Galdston. 

The lawyers estimate preliminary damages for the proposed class to total more than $100 million.

Vail did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

“Vail Resorts generally pays ski and snowboard instructors (“Snow Sport Instructors”) at their regular rate for shifts of 6.5-7.25 hours per day,” according to the suit. “However, Vail Resorts supervisors and managers know that Snow Sport Instructors typically work more than nine hours per day, including compensable time working while traveling on company buses, donning and doffing indispensable uniforms and equipment, training, and ‘off the clock’ work performed prior to and after shifts.”

Ticket scanners and other hourly employees face the same issues, the suit alleges.

The firm also refuses to pay for training, the plaintiffs allege, which “can amount to several hundred to several thousand dollars per Snow Sport Instructor per year.”

Vail doesn’t reimburse workers for “tools of the trade” and smartphones used on the job, the complaint said.

The suit seeks unspecified damages to include “unpaid compensation, including wages, overtime compensation, plus an equal amount of liquidated and penalty damages,” as well as an injunction forcing Vail to stop practices that violate state and federal labor laws.

The workers’ suit is the second time this year that plaintiffs have sought to bring collective action against Vail.

In April, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Epic Pass holder from New York sued Vail demanding refunds for a portion of the price of the pass, which could no longer be used after the operator closed its ski areas in March. 

Later that month Vail announced it would give passholders a 20% to 80% discount toward the purchase of  2020/2021 passes.

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