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StumbleCounty removes work card requirement for several jobs
Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010 | 4:30 p.m.
Employees who have had to pay for work cards before being allowed to hold one of 13 types of jobs will no longer have to get the cards after a vote of the County Commission.
The commission voted unanimously Wednesday to eliminate the work card requirement for the following positions: ice cream truck drivers, mobile food vendors, psychic arts practitioners, peddlers and temporary merchants, locksmiths, burglar alarm installers, second-hand dealers, pawnbrokers, massage establishments, unit brokers, theater managers, vacation certificate businesses and telephone solicitors.
Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani spearheaded the move as the county’s Department of Business License argued that eliminating some work cards would save the county money because of the cost associated with investigating work card denials that get appealed.
"After working with Metro, ACLU and constituents ... I was able to present to the commissioners and public an ordinance that will save the taxpayers money but most importantly give people an opportunity to go to work,” she said.
The work card basically includes a criminal background check overseen by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The department has fought changes to the system over the years. Even so, small bites have been taken out the work-card requirement. The number of workers getting them has declined from about 90,000 in 2000 to about 10,000 today. A card can cost a minimum of $45 but can go as high as $135 for bartenders, who sometimes have to get multiple cards from different governmental entities if they are working in casinos.
Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada, called Wednesday’s vote a “good move.”
“Is it perfect? No, but it’s a good step,” he said.
Aside from cutting the types of jobs requiring the cards, the new county code also changes the language that allows Metro to deny someone’s work card.
“People used to get denied simply because they were charged with a crime,” Giunchigliani said, noting that being charged will no longer automatically ruin someone’s chances for getting a card.
“People have due process rights and this gives Metro less discretion in what to do,” Lichtenstein said.
The next step, he added, is to try to get Las Vegas to adopt similar changes to the city code.
“They should just follow suit and get rid of a lot of the things that the county got rid of, and maybe even more,” he said. “But this is an ongoing process. Some day I’d like to see them get rid of non-gaming work cards pretty much in their entirety.”
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Locksmiths? These folks should have a background check. I am not saying they are bad people but a locksmith is given access to peoples' homes, businesses, vehicles, etc. Asside from that, I think it's a good idea and Las Vegas should adopt the same rules. At the same time, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson should also just use one contracting license from the County level instead of making contractors jump thru the hoops to get a license in each city plus the county.
This whole work card program is a big joke that's been going on for way too long. It's all about the money and the power that metro has....and is soon to lose. If a person is convicted of a crime, paid their debt to society, trying to live by the rules, jumping through all the hoops, why should they be denied employment because metro says so?
That has been going on way too long! Lets say if a convicted felon is a cook, gets out, trying to do good...they cannot work for the hotels/casino. Yet the casinos are stealing from the public because it's legal. How is this right?
What's illegal is not always wrong,
and what's legal is not always right!
But they choose the laws they want to enforce, i.e. illegal mexicans...so who am I to care.
Out of work and want to work at the local fast food joint (McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr., etc.)? First fork over fifty bucks for a health card. Nice scam for the unemployed.
FRM, I have a question.
If a Work Card is required for employment at a fast food joint, how do all of the obviously illegal aliens, who cannot speak a lick of English, and who constantly mess up my orders get Work Cards?
Does Metro not check their immigration status, or ar their employers simply cheating?
do dealers still need 1
Are these Commissioners DAFT???
They deleted work cards for both LOCKSMITHS and BURGLAR ALARM INSTALLERS. SAY WHAT???
Do you want convicts and felons ensuring your home, business and car security unregulated?
They already have found unlicensed locksmiths in Vegas with signs on empty lots. A world of difference between Locksmith and Alarm installer licensure here in NV (LOOSE BEFORE/ NON-EXISTANT NOW)and California. I have been licensed in both but in this case the CA has the right idea for public safety. Ditto the NRS's for a locksmith here are a TOTAL JOKE!!!
This to me sounds like a really bad idea.
to CynicalObserver
The Southern Nevada Health District issues a health card, a requirement for all food workers. Metro has nothing to do with it. It is a totally different system than the Metro issued work cards.
Work cards are not the same as business licenses. This ordinance has nothing to do with meeting the business license requirements, it is a way to harass workers. This is a move in the right direction.
I'm with Pahrumpredneck on this. LOCKSMITHS and BURGLAR ALARM INSTALLERS should not have been removed! I think a background and criminal check for both of these fields is pretty essential.
The changes improve and update the County's work card regulations. For example, the amendment eliminates the requirement for work cards for 13 occupations that already require separate background checks -- eliminating a duplication of effort by local government agencies which will save time and money for taxpayers. So locksmiths and burglar alarm installers are still getting background investigations on behalf of Clark County or a state agency. These new work card regulations improve efficiency and remove barriers to employment.
My first job was with Diebold working on bank security systems. They ran a background check on me that was far more intensive than the one the government did when I held a security clearance. I was being bonded for $5,000,000.
Removing the work cards for locksmiths and alarm installers was a mistake. I strongly urge anyone who needs those services to be sure that the company you choose has done their own background checks on employees, and if possible, choose a company who has employees who were hired while such work cards were needed.
This will allow more illegals access to the job market here. Back in 2001 they exempted many workers inside Casinos. Now most of them are losing money hand over fist. Who wants to gamble with some dude who barely speaks English or sleep in beds full of bugs because the housekeeper is incompetent?
This is just more Harry Reid destroy Nevada BS by his minions down at the playtime CC.
Course the Unions support this debasement of their members wages and service to the public.
they should eliminate almost all of them. how many companies such as the casinos for example run background checks on their own?
its stupid. how often can you get a job these days where they dont do checks that the cards already do? stooooooopppppiiiidddddd! most states i know of do not have a system as intense as nevadas when it comes to permits just to work. most states have this for certain occupations such as security guards, private investigators, and some others. but to chuck cards in a casino...thats rediculous
if you are unemployed, you can get cards for free long as you have a promise to hire paper signed by your new employer, so its not a scam to the unemployed.
WHAT I'M GETTING MORE SICK OF IS,WAITING IN LINE ANYWHERE,AND HAVEING SOMEONE WHO CAN BEARLY GET OUT HELLO IN ENGLISH SERVEING ME,AND TRUE AMERICANS ARE GOING WITHOUT!!!AND I HAVE GONE BACK TO PLACES I HAVE APPLIED,ONLY TOO SEE I WAS BEATEN OUT BY A POSSIBLE ILLEAGLE IMMIGRANT!!!
they were just another form of taxation