Work card reform facing challenges

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2001 | 10:13 a.m.

A proposal to eliminate work cards for nine occupations will likely be challenged by those who say the reforms don't go far enough.

Business Services Division Manager Jim DiFiore was expected to recommend during the City Council meeting today that work cards be eliminated for auctioneers, advertising specialities, circus workers, gaming casino employees, mobile food vendors, private detectives, private security, temporary merchants and vacation certificate businesses.

Gary Peck, director of the Las Vegas ACLU, plans to challenge DiFiore's proposal.

"The city, like the county, has still failed to state what they believe the legal standards are for imposing a work card requirement," Peck said. "Moreover, they fail to present any sort of meaningful, factual basis for the decisions they have made."

Twenty-eight occupations in the city require work cards for employment, although proponents of work card reform argue that the requirements for any job are unfair because they deny a convicted felon the right to work. City attorneys argue that the cards are necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community.

On Aug. 1, the council, saying that some of the occupations are covered by state requirements and that the private sector should be more responsible for conducting background checks, directed DiFiore to review the city policy as it pertains to work cards.

In contrast to an ordinance approved by the county last month, DiFiore recommends that the city continue to require work cards for gaming service employees, including maids and bellhops.

Other recommendations expected today include a policy that would allow applicants convicted of a felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor the chance to be granted work cards.

Work card requirements for other occupations -- including adult nightclub workers, apartment managers, erotic dancers, child care workers, ice cream truck drivers and martial arts instructors -- would remain.

Peck has problems with several of the recommendations, including the requirement for commercial dance instructors to obtain work cards. According to a memo sent to council members by DiFiore, the business is historically "rich with schemes to sell long-term and expensive courses of instruction to lonely senior citizens which are blatantly fraudulent."

Peck said that argument will not hold up in court and is based on "anecdotal" information.

"They rely on the stock story about the poor, lonely senior citizen who is somehow bilked of money by a predatory dance instructor," Peck said. "This is preposterous and very problematic."