Last update on August 31 at 2:50 pm Several people say they haven’t been paid for the shifts they’ve worked on in nearly two months at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, which takes place July 6-10 on Tahoe’s South Shore at Edgewood Tahoe Resort. In response to these complaints, a spokesperson for Edgewood Tahoe Resort said the hotel had hired Spectrum Events to run food and beverages during the tournament.
“The hotel is not directly responsible for disbursing payments to its employees,” Corinna Osborne, general manager of Edgewood Tahoe, wrote in an email to SFGATE.
However, Osborne said, with “bad business practices” casting a shadow over the golf tournament, the hotel is taking the situation “seriously”. She said they are working with Spectrum Events to resolve the issue.
“Spectrum Events works with team members who have contacted them directly to get them paid, but they cannot access all team member records causing delays,” Osborne said.
August 31, 2:32 pm It’s been more than seven weeks since the list of celebrities and athletes arrived at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada, to play for the $600,000 prize pool at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. However, many people who were hired by a third party contractor and worked in the tournament were not paid, The Tahoe Daily Tribune reported earlier this week.
Daphne Heller told Tribune reporter Ashley Goodwin that she worked three shifts, each of 10 to 12.5 hours, during the popular golf tournament, which took place July 6-10.
Heller told the Tribune that she has yet to be paid for her work from MVP Event Staffing, a company describe himself As “the nation’s premier supplier of food and beverage personnel for large-scale events.”
“We’ve worked hard for this company over the weekend for the golf tournament and are still not getting any response on our salaries,” Heller told the Tribune. “We just want our salaries.”
The 33rd Annual Golf Championship She hosted more than 80 celebrities in the lakeside greens of Edgewood Tahoe Resort, which features long views of Lake Tahoe and is located on the southeast coast. Pop icon Justin Timberlake, Golden State Warriors player Steve Curry and Cal Alum and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers were among the competitors play. Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo won this year’s championship. After two years of limited attendance due to the pandemic, the tournament stands were fully open this year. The Tahoe Daily Tribune reported that 67,000 spectators attended this year’s tournament.
“The people at Lake Tahoe are amazing,” said former NBA player Charles Barkley. Sports journalist for NBC on vegetables. “I love seeing all the celebrities. The fans are amazing.”
The chance to watch celebrities play golf was one of the reasons some people signed up to work on the tournament.
“Being a big fan of golf, and the sport in general, I said I was going to work on championship golf,” Sean Lyman told the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Lyman told the Tribune he was not paid for his shifts by MVP Event Staffing. Lyman said someone at the MVP called him at a farmers market in Minden. The MVP representative asked if he wanted to work on a celebrity golf tournament. Lyman’s wife took time away from her job so she could watch their son at work at a golf tournament.
“Now I have nothing to show her other than the advice I gave her,” Lyman said. “Not the $20 an hour you promised for 38 hours of work.”
According to Tribune, 55 to 65 people are employed by an MVP to work on a golf tournament. Lehman told the Tribune that eight employees were not being paid.
Lehman told the Tribune he had sent several emails to MVP Event Staffing to inquire when he would receive his salary, and as of August 28, had received no response.
The Edgewood Tahoe Resort has hosted a golf tournament but is not responsible for hiring and paying people who worked on the franchises. Edgewood did not respond to a request for comment prior to press time.
The American Century Championship contracted Spectrum Events as a catering and franchise company to provide hospitality services for the tournament. In turn, Spectrum contracted MVP Event Staffing to hire and pay temporary workers.
Spectrum vice president of management Missie Martinez said in an email sent to SFGATE on Wednesday that Spectrum paid MVP in full for post-tournament owed amounts. Martinez said Spectrum has worked with MVPs at events before.
“We would like to go on record that this is not an Edgewood issue; they have paid in full and are great partners and put together a great event that benefits many in the Tahoe area,” Martinez said. “Furthermore, this is not a spectrum issue, but we feel responsible for the people affected by this and try to do everything we can. We have worked to keep pressure on the agency in non-payment and follow up regularly. We hope.”
MVP Events Staffing did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.
Greg Fielding, co-founder of MVP Event Staffing, told the Tahoe Daily Tribune that his company has a responsibility to pay the people it has hired to work on the tournament.
“I can’t go into specifics of what happened other than to say in general that our cash flow is dependent on collection from our customers,” Fielding told the Tribune.