Work cards no longer required for maids

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2001 | 11:51 a.m.

Who's carded Work cards in the city of Las Vegas are still required for the following job categories:

After decades of being required to submit to a full investigation by Metro Police before being able to work in a Las Vegas casino, maids and other gaming employees will no longer be required to obtain work cards.

The Culinary Union cheered the Las Vegas City Council's decision Wednesday to eliminate work card requirements for eight jobs, most significantly gaming service workers -- including maids -- and other gaming casino workers. At least 100 union members attended the meeting, wearing yellow buttons that read -- "Discrimination against housekeepers: No work cards."

Even with the victory, civil rights leaders with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Las Vegas Interfaith Council for Worker Justice left the meeting disappointed that the council had failed to take any public comment and did not set a standard when deciding what work cards to eliminate.

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU, called the council's actions arbitrary, saying it opened the door for future litigation against the city.

"The way that meeting was run was an embarrassment," Peck said. "It is transparently obvious to anyone who was paying attention that the decisions were not driven by careful policy consideration or legal analysis; they were driven by crass politics."

After months of hearing reports from business licensing staff and city attorneys, the council went one-by-one through its list of 28 job categories that had required work cards.

Ultimately, eight occupations were eliminated from work card requirements, including advertising specialists, auctioneers, circus workers, gaming casino workers, gaming service workers, private investigators, private security, and vacation certificate businesses. Several of the job categories were eliminated because the state already requires background checks.

City staff had recommended that the city continue to require work cards for gaming service employees, including maids and bellhops, because of their access to rooms.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said there was something "fundamentally unsettling" to require maids or bellhops to get fingerprinted. She said employers, not city government, should be held liable for the actions of employees.

"Here in America there are certain fundamental rights afforded to us, and one of those is the right to work," she said.

Mayor Oscar Goodman had suggested that work cards only be required for six occupations, those that deal with gaming and involve children, but his motion died without a majority.