The "First Rule of Self Preservation" while working for any entity of a sovereign nation is do not tell the truth. If a person wants to keep his or her job, they must not exercise their right to free speech. This right does not exist on Indian land.
Tell others that all workers are treated fairly and with respect. Say that all regulations and laws are followed even though no one will believe you. Talk about all of the safety inspections conducted on hotels and other structures built on the reservation and adherence to safety codes, knowing none of this exists. Pretend to be deaf, dumb and blind if you want to keep your job.
Of course, different rules apply to employees depending upon their economic status. If you are a dishwasher, dealer, hotel maid, waiter or other similarly paid low income worker (which the vast majority of casino and tribal employees are), you must be extra careful. Executives, directors and other similarly paid employees can get away with just about anything.
Threatening to beat up children in front of others, violating the law, violating federal regulations, threatening others with being fired if he or she fills out required federal Securities and Exchange Commission forms, investigating tribal members, employees and patrons without legal authorization to do so, using tribal money to purchase a property at three or more times its actual value, treating other employees badly -- these are just a few examples of actions I am aware of by high level employees who continue to work today.
The one similarity between them and low income employees is The First Rule of Self Preservation: Do not tell the truth.
Violating this rule can have serious consequences even after a person is no longer employed by a sovereign nation. I know. This is happening to my family.
As a management level employee with the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Commission (an investigator and an athletic regulator), I did not take place in actions I knew to be against federal regulations and/or unethical. As a retired Commander of the Connecticut State Police Casino Licensing and Operations Unit, I was certainly qualified to determine what Gaming Commission employees were permitted to do under federal law. Other people I worked with were also aware, but they did what they wanted. Laws and regulations were irrelevant.
Having our two person boxing regulatory unit recognized by the General Accounting Office of the US Government for excellent performance seemed to really upset the Chief of Staff. He made my full time position per-diem without benefits. He wanted me to work only three days before a fight, the day of a fight and three days after. The same thing happened to the other member of the boxing unit.
The Chief of Staff and Director of Human Resources lied to my co-worker twice when he asked why our jobs were being made per-diem. Neither reason made sense.
I attempted to speak with one or both of them and no one would meet with me. Neither of them ever even told me about the change in hours. My wife opened a letter sent to our home on a Friday while I was at work. There is no excuse for this, especially after 7 years of employment.
After I left, the conduct of the same tribal employees, the tribal chairman and their attorneys rapidly deteriorated. I found out that I had been reported as fired to the Connecticut State Labor Board.
When I called them, saying that I had a pink slip clearly stating that I had resigned, they said that they could not correct the record since the Tribe was a sovereign nation.
I also later found out that I had been reported as an employee of a phony private detective agency owned by the Tribe, which I never worked for. To make it worse, the labor board said I had been reported as terminated from this company.
Now, on state public records which were available to any potential future employer, I was recorded as having been fired from two security positions. Who would hire me now?
It took more than 6 months and 5 letters to be sent my 401K check. While trying to obtain this money owed to me, I had attempted to report what I believed were serious violations in law and regulation to the Connecticut State Police, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Public Safety.
Numerous letters and phone calls resulted in frustration. The State Police refused to investigate and said that any papers recording me as an employee of this phony private investigative company had been destroyed.
I was a retired State Police lieutenant. The Attorney General’s office ignored me and I received a letter from the Commissioner of Public Safety saying that an investigation had been done but there was no report and all records had been destroyed. He said I "must have been employed" by the fake company, even though evidence in the public record proved otherwise.
My job was made per-diem in April. In October, my wife received a phone call from the tribe’s attorney. He said a temporary restraining order was being taken our in state court by the tribe the next day, forbidding us to speak about the tribe.
The tribe was also filing suit against me and my wife for extortion. Remember, this was after I reported wrong doing to state authorities. They knew we hadn’t tried to do anything improper and had every right to speak, but they filed suit anyway.
Their timing told the story. They shut me up the day before announcing the deal to purchase Pocono Downs at $280 million dollars, preventing me from reporting what I knew to the State of Pennsylvania, possibly interfering with the purchase. We had to hire an attorney and went to court two months later.
Of course we were granted the right to speak and a month later, their attorneys dropped the lawsuit. Unfortunately, Associated Press had published a story, printed across the country, accusing me of being an extortionist.
Now on internet search engines and in the public record, I was a person fired from two jobs and an accused extortionist. None of this was true, but who would take the chance to hire me. I have applied for over 200 jobs across the US and never received even one phone call.
The icing on the cake is that I have not been able to clear my name. We hired an attorney to counter-sue the tribe in state court. We learned that the type of suit filed against us was prohibited because it was baseless and filed for false purposes.
We learned from court records that they even made up an email we had supposedly sent them to make us appear guilty.
A judge ruled in their favor when they tried to have the suit dismissed based on the tribe’s sovereign immunity. Even though they brought us to state court, destroyed my reputation with lies, caused us to hire two attorneys and filed an improper suit we were not allowed to sue them back. An appeal has been filed by our attorney. I have started a gaming and security consulting company.
People have often asked me why no one with an employment history like mine has ever spoken out against the Indian Gaming industry. Reading this answers that question. I was not looking for trouble. I was forced to fight to restore my damaged reputation. My family did not have a choice.
When a sovereign nation attempts to establish itself in your area claims to treat their employees well, you now know the truth. No one who wants to keep his or her job will state otherwise.
Bradley Beecher is the owner of Thetis Consulting, a firm specializing in advising corporations and community groups in the areas of security and gaming. He was the commander of the Casino Unit for the Connecticut State Police where he designed and implemented law enforcement operations at two of the world’s largest casinos. He was employed by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority where he supervised regulatory investigations and assisted in creating the Tribe’s Department of Athletic Regulation. Mr. Beecher’s experience also includes pari-mutuel gaming regulation as well as fraud prevention and detection. For additional information, see http://www.thetisconsulting.com
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