ACLU threatens suit over changes in work card law

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, April 26, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.

Civil rights leaders who say they have been locked out of Clark County's process to rework an ordinance that determines which employees need work cards vowed to sue if the final draft is unconstitutional.

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, angry his organization has been excluded, said the county is preparing to pass an unconstitutional law.

"We are heading down a road to major litigation that will cost taxpayers their hard-earned money," Peck said. "I assure you they are going to have to look far and wide to find anyone who is a respectable constitutional law expert who is not going to tell them that this system has serious problems."

The ongoing -- and controversial -- process of rewriting the county's work card ordinance was postponed Wednesday after Business Licensing Director Ardel Jorgenson said amendments might be made to the draft.

Work cards are documents provided by Metro Police that show employees who work in privileged industries like liquor and gaming have been investigated and have a clean record.

Jorgenson said she also postponed Wednesday's hearing because she hopes to give smaller gaming businesses, like taverns that offer video poker, alternative methods of checking potential employees' backgrounds when they lose Metro's service.

"When we remove work cards, we put the onus on the owner to look at backgrounds. We are still holding these businesses responsible for their employees' conduct," Jorgenson said.

Business licensing is working with the county's attorneys, the gaming industry and commissioners to fine-tune the language in the draft. Jorgenson said she is not concerned with Peck's threats to sue because the ACLU is not being included.

"The last time I checked there was nothing in the constitution of the state or this country that says when a local government is in the process of making a change to its laws, it must include the ACLU," Jorgenson said. "If (the ACLU) wants to sue because it's not involved, then go right ahead and do it." The controversy is about whether non-gaming employees such as maids and desk clerks need to possess work cards. Employees who hold those positions, the ACLU has argued, aren't directly involved in the handling of money and therefore shouldn't be subjected to background checks.

For years Clark County required all employees of casinos in unincorporated districts to obtain work cards, no matter what their positions.

The new draft excludes such employees as bartenders, waitresses and janitors because they aren't considered "key employees" and they don't have access to casino money.

Peck said he is satisfied with those exclusions but is miffed that maids and bellhops will still need to undergo the intense criminal background check before being given permission to work in hotel-casinos.

Jorgenson said the county still believes employees who have access to guest rooms should have untarnished backgrounds.

"How come valets are out?" Peck asked. "You give them the keys to your car."

Peck said even with the county's proposed changes, the requirements are unheard of, even in other gaming cities like Atlantic City, N.J. And the reason, he said, is because of a series of Supreme Court rulings.

"The Supreme Court has held for a long time that people have a fundamental right to work," Peck said. "People have the right to work in an ordinary common place job without having that right impermissibly infringed upon by government."

Peck said the county also is failing to address jobs outside of the casino industry that affects the health, safety and welfare of the community -- the same criteria county officials use in support of work card requirements.

When the city of Las Vegas and Clark County -- which often try to pass similar ordinances for the sake of consistency -- complete their work card drafts, the effect might be opposite of what both entities initially intended.