Feds investigate Nevada rights panel

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 11:14 a.m.

A federal agency has launched an investigation into the Nevada Equal Rights Commission after receiving complaints that cases before the state board have dragged on for more than a year.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights invited NERC administrators to a meeting this past weekend to discuss inefficiencies in the office responsible for investigating potential equal employment opportunity violations.

NERC administrators did not attend the meeting, prompting the federal agency's local advisory board -- the Nevada Advisory Committee -- to begin its own investigation.

Clark County employees and civil rights attorneys' frustrations with NERC's effectiveness were noted in a Sun story last month about discrimination at McCarran International Airport. Employees said they felt their only hope for justice was to hire their own attorneys.

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, agreed with the county workers and told the Sun the state agency was "a joke."

David Sanchez, chairman of the advisory committee, said his 10-member board will look into why NERC has a backlog of cases, what type of training its investigators receive, the makeup of the division and its finances.

Sanchez said the problems were touched upon during Saturday's advisory board meeting, but they couldn't be fully explored without NERC administrator Lynda Parven present.

"The discussion just grew to the point where we needed to ask some additional questions," Sanchez said. "We invited Ms. Parven to be there, but she backed out."

Parven could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Carlos Romo, NERC's assistant administrator who works out of the Reno office, agreed that the division could improve the average amount of time it takes to resolve a case. He said the average is 326 days; the agency's goal is to finish in 250 days.

"We have work performance standards we have sent to legislators," Romo said. "We're putting the administrative process in place to meet our goal or strive to meet our goal."

Tom Pilla of the U.S. commission said its regional headquarters in L.A. has received complaints about NERC since it was brought under the Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation.

The Equal Rights Commission administrator had reported to the governor; the head of the agency now reports to the director of the employment training and rehabilitation division.

"It used to be an independent commission," Pilla said. "There are some allegations that when it was reorganized and not independent it lost credibility and clout."

There are also concerns that fewer employees are filing workplace discrimination complaints with NERC because of the length of time it takes for cases to be resolved and the lack of public hearings. NERC mediators haven't advanced a case to the public hearing stage -- at which time both the employer and employee testify -- in more than a decade.

"That is very unusual, since there have probably been some situations that would warrant hearings," Sanchez said.

Romo said the reason few employees are choosing to go through the equal rights commission process is that the state statute allows the complainant only to recover lost wages.

Most employees hire their own attorneys and take their cases to court because they can sue for damages and be rewarded more money.

"They go through the courts because they're looking for damages," Romo said. "We're rather limited in the remedies people can get."

Neither the advisory board nor the U.S. Commission on Equal Rights has authority over the Nevada office, but they can conduct an investigation and make recommendations to the state. Sanchez said the agency's suggestions are typically taken seriously, but there is some question about whether Nevada would respond.

Sun reporter Rebecca Malone

contributed to this report.