State orders constable to rehire two deputies

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 11:03 a.m.

A state agency has ordered Las Vegas Constable Bob Nolen to rehire with back pay two fired deputy constables who organized a union.

In a 10-page decision made public this week, the Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board found that Nolen had wrongfully terminated ex-deputies Dave Burress and Leonard Griffin because of their union activities.

Burress was president of the Las Vegas Constables Association at the time of his June firing. He later filed a complaint alleging misconduct by Nolen with the state Ethics Commission.

The commission last month issued a decision urging the politically connected Nolen to be removed from office for spending little time on the job.

Griffin was vice president of the constables association when he was forced to leave the office in March 1996. He ran against Nolen, but lost in last year's general election.

Burress and Griffin said Wednesday they wanted their jobs back, and they estimated that together they were owed as much as $140,00 in back pay.

"I'm elated," Burress said. "This is my livelihood. It's what I know how to do."

Griffin said the labor relations decision was a victory for the little guy.

"It's been a long struggle," he said.

Burress and Griffin said they lost their homes as a result of their firings.

Late Wednesday, however, Nolen's lawyer, John Moran, Jr., said his client has no intention of rehiring the ex-deputies and planned to challenge the decision in court.

Moran said the Employee-Management Relations Board had no basis to act against Nolen.

"He followed their advice," Moran said. "And now he finds himself being penalized for doing what they told him to do."

Moran on Wednesday filed a petition for judicial review of the Ethics Commission ruling in District Court. The case was assigned to District Judge Stephen Huffaker.

Moran previously accused the ethics panel of doing a "railroad job" on his client.

In its decision, the Employee-Management Labor Relations Board found that Nolen had not illegally fired two other former deputies, Paul Coroneos and Dave Cowan.

Coroneos had helped Burress bring the ethics complaint against Nolen.

The board, however, criticized Nolen for making statements "often shown to lack credibility."

The ethics panel also had found that Nolen and his witnesses had little credibility.

Burress and other former employees purged from the constable's office during Nolen's tenure have vowed to go to court to remove Nolen or mount a campaign to recall him.