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Ex-Casino Worker Loses Benefits Over Prostitution Request

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 12:00 CST

A former Riverside Casino & Golf Resort employee who tried to request a prostitute was denied unemployment benefits after being fired for misconduct.

Neil Jorgensen, of Kalona, asked the casino's hotel manager for help securing a prostitute's services while staying at the hotel Nov. 28, according to the Feb. 13 decision denying Jorgensen's appeal of an earlier denial of his unemployment insurance claim.

When the hotel manager told Jorgensen, 62, the hotel "does not do that", Jorgensen called the casino's resort club with the same request, according to an Iowa Workforce Development unemployment insurance appeals document.

Security staff then went to Jorgensen's room to try to stop him from further calls. Jorgensen answered the door in the nude, according to the document. Jorgensen, a fulltime surveillance operator at the casino south of Iowa City, was fired the next day. He had worked at the casino for a little over a year and was given the free night's stay and a $100 gift certificate for his length of service with the company, accord ing to the document.

The state denied Jorgensen unemployment benefits on Jan. 18, but he appealed, saying he thought prostitutes would be available because the resort bills itself as a "Las Vegas style" casino.

He also said he was served too much alcohol at the facility's restaurant, where he ordered and consumed two mixed drinks and a bottle of wine during his stay.

But Administrative Judge Terence P. Nice found Jorgensen knew or should have known that his conduct was "contrary to the employer's interests and standards of behavior." Workforce Development receives thousands of appeals each year, Iowa Workforce Development Communications Director Kerry Koonce said. She declined to comment on whether she believed Jorgensen was sincere in maintaining he had not acted inappropriately.

"I wouldn't even begin to guess what he thought, but he was exercising his right to appeal the case," she said.

Source: The Gazette - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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