Activist: Schools violate hiring statute

By Emily Richmond

Friday, June 28, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

A labor union says Clark County School District officials are violating a state statute by not ensuring that contractors hire veterans and residents of Nevada first for work on lucrative construction projects.

Joe Bifano, a longtime labor activist and candidate for state Assembly, said he had filed a complaint with the state Board of Contractors on Thursday, alleging the district hasn't checked to make sure contractors are following the law.

"How can you tell these people to raise their families here and send their kids to Clark County schools and then take food out of their mouths by sending taxpayers' dollars to out-of-state contractors and workers?" Bifano said.

School officials who oversee a $400 million annual construction budget say the law obligates them to do only two things: select the lowest bidder and give preference to contractors who have paid taxes in Nevada for at least five years.

As far as hiring subcontractors or workers, that's the contractor's responsibility, not the district's, school officials say.

But the question of whether the school district is -- or should be -- responsible has no clear answer, Deputy Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek said.

"This is actually an issue that's never come up before," Tanchek said. "If someone has evidence that this statute is being violated, we would certainly want to hear about it." At a Laborers Local 872 rally Thursday before the Clark County School Board's meeting at its Flamingo Road chambers, John Hunt, a candidate for state attorney general, urged the workers to press for answers. The school district relies too heavily on out-of-state contractors who bring in workers from surrounding states, Hunt said.

"You are the backbone of this community," Hunt said. "You should be at the top of the list, not the bottom of the heap."

Fred Smith, construction manager with the school district, expressed some frustration with the labor group's tactics.

The union has chosen sidewalk protests over a more direct -- and possibly more effective -- approach, Smith said.

"I wish these guys would come and talk to us, and tell us their stories, so we can try and help early on," Smith said. "If we don't know what the issues are, how can we improve things?"

Nevada Revised Statute 338.130 requires that Nevada veterans followed by other Silver State residents be given first shot on public works projects, provided they are as qualified as the other applicants. The statute must be followed by every state agency, including the school district, Tanchek said. The only exception is projects that use state prisoners as labor, he said.

What the statute doesn't say is that the public agency hiring the contractors should be responsible for doing spot checks to ensure veterans and residents are being hired fairly, Tanchek said. At the same time, the school district has the authority to hear complaints and the responsibility to report violations to the labor commission, Tanchek said.

Bill Hoffman, the school district's general counsel, said this was the first time he has seen the labor unions use the statute as a point of complaint. It could be difficult to prove a violation has occurred, Hoffman said.

For example, if a carpenter with five years experience applied for a job along with a carpenter with 10 years experience, the contractor would not be obligated to hire the less-experienced applicant simply because he was a veteran and Nevada resident, Hoffman said.

"If there's someone out there who believes they were wronged, and did not get preference as prescribed by the law, they should make a complaint to the board," Hoffman said.