New law puts job cases on fast track

Monday, July 21, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

People who feel they have been discriminated against on the job may find some relief when a new law goes into effect Oct. 1.

The agency charged with enforcing state laws against employee discrimination will be able to put some of the worst cases in their files on a fast track due to the law, an official said Friday.

The law allows the agency to follow a practice the federal government uses for cases that have "a greater likelihood of finding probable cause or will cause irreparable harm if not expedited," Lynda Parven, administrator for the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, said. These cases include those where there were witnesses to the discrimination or evidence is easy to obtain.

The cases are then moved to the front of the line in an investigator's workload and steps such as a mandatory settlement meeting are removed from the process of investigation. People with complaints that fit the fast-track category could have their cases resolved anywhere from six months to two years faster than it would take under current conditions, Parven said.

"This makes us more of an agency to be taken seriously ... and will make complainants want to come to us with their problems," she said.

The law's impact on the agency was discussed at the commission's quarterly meeting last week. Parven said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- the federal equivalent of her agency -- adopted the practice in 1995 and is able to solve cases in an average of 217 days.

The state agency currently has an overall average of a year, and Parven thinks the law will help her reach the federal government's rate.

The agency has made progress in lowering the amount of time it takes to resolve cases since Parven became administrator in May 2001, by using tools such as fines that had been untouched for decades. The rate was down to 311 days prior to Sept. 11, 2001, she said.

But then the economy took a downturn and the agency wound up receiving 80 percent more complaints during fiscal year 2002 than it had in the past. The number of complaints went up from an average of 1,000 per year to 1,800 during that period.

The commission will also be refocusing its attention on fines as a way to resolve cases faster.

Though the agency levied $500 fines against employers for not supplying information for the first time in 2003 -- the maximum dollar amount allowed by law -- the commissioners who oversee the agency will submit a bill draft request to raise the amount for the 2005 legislative session. The new amount hasn't been decided on.