Boyd Gaming Prohibits Employees from Wearing COVID Masks

Boyd Gaming just updated its grooming policy, and it now forbids employees from wearing face masks without first establishing an ADA-recognized disability with the company’s human resources department.

According to a memo posted to a bulletin board at Boyd’s Main Street Station casino in Las Vegas and shared by the X account Las Vegas Locally on Wednesday, team members can request exceptions to the policy only if…

1) they contact company HR and request “a reasonable accommodation for a disability recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or equivalent state law” or

2)  they are recovering from COVID, in which case they van wear a mask “for the first five days after they return to work.”

Team members “can continue to work without a mask or take unpaid leave during the ADA interactive process,” the memo reads.

If neither of the above two scenarios applies, the memo clearly states, “team members should not wear a mask.”

According to the memo, Boyd’s policy was updated because “the CDC recognized that the U.S. is seeing far fewer hospitalizations and deaths associated with COVID-19 and presently has more and better tools to combat respiratory illness,” and that “98% of the U.S. population has some protective immunity against COVID-19 from vaccination, prior infection, or both.”

The memo adds that “in September 2024, the CDC took the position that masks are not usually recommended in non-healthcare settings.”

Boyd’s Problem With Masks

As Boyd explained in an addendum to the memo, face coverings “impair our ability to provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere for our guests and to provide experiences that exceed their expectations.”

According to the addendum, the use of face coverings “dampens sound, restricts clarity of verbal communications, (and) precludes brightening a guest’s day with (a) warm friendly, and genuine smile.”

The policy ignited a social media maelstrom when an employee first posted this message about it to Reddit on Wednesday.

“Takes a special kind of nut to politicize voluntary mask wearing,” commented Redditor @Las_Vegan. “If employees who work with the public want to mask up, what’s it to the company? Think of all the productivity lost when employees stay home sick or worse yet, go to work sick. If this news is true, it sends a bad signal through the ranks that ownership cares more about political optics than the welfare of their own employees.”

“Their typical thought process: ‘I don’t like to do this myself.’ = Personal choice. ‘I don’t want others doing this.’ = Mandatory behavior,” added Redditor @BelovedOmegaMan.

“Yup! Work at the Orleans casino and unfortunately can’t even wear a mask if my coworkers come to work sick to protect myself!” echoed Redditor @monchichi_bby.

Casino.org emailed Boyd Gaming’s VP of corporate communications for its response on Wednesday afternoon. None was received before we published this Thursday morning, and Boyd has yet to comment about the controversy on its social media accounts.

“Any employee,” Roeben tweeted. “So, the policy amounts to a guideline, not a prohibition against masks, unfortunately.”

Boyd Gaming owns 28 properties across the US, also including Aliante, the Cannery, Gold Coast, Orleans, Sam’s Town, Suncoast, Fremont,  California, and Jokers Wild in the Las Vegas area.