Labor chief: City came up short in wage investigation

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, June 24, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Henderson officials acted slowly and conducted a thin investigation when workers complained of wage payment violations at a city job site, the state Labor Commission ruled late Friday.

But in the commission's first ruling on a 2001 state law that requires awarding agencies to investigate labor complaints on construction job sites, state Labor Commissioner Terry Johnson said Friday that evidence presented at two administrative hearings "does not establish that the city willfully failed to comply with the provisions" of state law.

The findings of the city's investigation "may have been different," Johnson said, if the city had interviewed workers individually, followed up on wage payment irregularities and completed its investigation within the state-mandated 30 days.

After six workers at a $7.2 million city parking garage complained in November they were not being paid fairly, Henderson audited payroll sheets and time cards. Henderson officials concluded from the paper audit that workers had been paid fairly and fully.

But Johnson was critical of the work of a private consultant hired by the city, Harris & Associates. When a worker complained he was paid unfairly, the worker was paid "just for the day in question" and Harris conducted no further investigation of pay irregularities.

"It's a fair report. We've always known there was room for improvement," Henderson Construction Manager John Simmons said today. "It's a difficult task. We have limited resources."

By mid-August, Simmons said, the city plans to hire for a newly created position. That person will work full time to ensure workers are being paid state-mandated wages, Simmons said.

Michael Slater, executive director of the Nevada Interfaith Council for Worker Justice, said his agency has reservations about the new law. During debate on the legislation, the Interfaith Council asked whether local public agencies worked too closely with construction companies to effectively police them.

The carpenter's union was the main lobbyist for the changes in law, which some call clarifications of existing law. Union representatives have said that the Labor Commission does not have adequate staffing to investigate complaints.

"It seems like the labor commissioner was walking a tightrope between pressing the city to be responsive and firm without going overboard and creating conflict with an agency he'll have to do business with in the future," Slater said.

"But the real question is whether this ruling is a shot across the bow for other agencies and whether the commissioner will continue to hold local agencies accountable when they fail to be responsive to worker complaints."