Two LV cigar makers sued by former workers

Two Las Vegas cigar makers face allegations that they did not pay some workers minimum wage or overtime over a three-year period.

Eleven men last week sued Las Vegas Cigar Co. and four men sued Don Pablo Cigar Co. in U.S. District Court.

The workers held various positions of receiving, sorting, cutting or rolling tobacco.

Both Don Pablo owner Robert Schear and Las Vegas Cigar Co. owner Richard Galdieri say they pay workers better than minimum wage.

"They were definitely paid more than minimum wage," Galdieri said. "I start people out at $6.50 per hour."

Schear said: "I'm sure we'll see them in court."

Schear and Galdieri said cigar makers are not paid by the hour, but by the cigar. For Galdieri, that calculation varies depending on the 12 types of cigars the company makes. More qualified makers make a better rate, he said.

"That's the way cigar makers have been paid for 200 years," Galdieri said. "There wasn't one cigar maker here that was making under $700 a week."

Because cigar makers make their money based on piece work, they tend to come and go, Galdieri said. He said cigar makers like that system because it allows them that kind of freedom.

He said there may be former employees to whom he owes money, and he would pay them.

"I'm not going to go seeking them out," Galdieri said.

Cigars became a fad in the mid-90s, but after the craze was over, business conditions forced him to let people go, he said, and he believes that may be at the root of the lawsuit.

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