Emeril Lagasse Lays Off 136 Employees at His Restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip

Emeril Lagasse’s two remaining restaurants in Las Vegas plan to lay off 136 employees by September 30. The chef behind Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian and Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grand informed the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation through the WARN Act that “further advance notice of these layoffs was not possible due to the fluid and rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting government orders and economic impacts.”

The restaurants, in two letters to the state written by the company’s chief legal officer George J. Ditta II, say, “As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, its sudden nature, its unforeseen duration/severity, and the government’s evolving restrictions to combat COVID-19, including shelter and closure orders, the company had to close Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House in March 2020 and place its management and staff on ‘temporary unpaid leave due to COVID-19.’”

The company says it continued to provide benefits, including health insurance, to all benefit-eligible employees on temporary unpaid leave due to COVID-19, and plans to continue those benefits through the end of the month.

“Although the restaurant was able to re-open and resume operations in June 2020, the continued extension of governmental orders limiting and restricting restaurant service operations and in-person dining, and the resulting wide-ranging economic impacts have made it apparent that the company will be unable to return to pre-COVID-19 active staffing levels anytime in the near future,” the letters state.

Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House will lay off 63 employees include 15 buses, 12 servers, 14 line and prep cooks, and two dining room managers. Delmonico Steakhouse will lay off 73 staff members, including 15 servers, 15 bus staff, 14 line and prep cooks, and two dining room managers.

Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo announced that it was permanently closed in July.

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