Board rules for North Las Vegas in employee discrimination case

By Chris Kudialis

Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 | 4:38 p.m.

A state board on Wednesday ruled against two former city of North Las Vegas human resources employees who claimed Mayor John Lee discriminated against them and illegally laid them off last year.

A panel from the Nevada Employee Management and Relations Board, which makes decisions on disputes between local governments and employees, also denied Bachera Washington and Tammy Bonner’s request for more than a year of back pay after the two argued Lee outsourced the city’s HR department as a way to fire employees he didn’t want there.

“We are grateful the EMRB recognized the absurdity of these false allegations,” Assistant City Manager Ryann Juden said in response to Wednesday’s ruling.

In 2007, North Las Vegas began across-the-board cutbacks in an attempt to save money during the recession. A reorganization cut as many as 1,000 of the city’s roughly 2,000 paid staff positions, many of which were outsourced to third parties.

In May 2015, the North Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved outsourcing the city’s HR department by hiring Prism Global Management Group after the Henderson-based company submitted a $740,000 bid to manage the department in March 2015. The move was estimated by city officials to save the city $1 million to $2 million a year.

The decision left six city of North Las Vegas human resource employees, including Washington and Bonner, without jobs. The two alleged their employment with the city was eliminated as retribution for filing discrimination complaints against the mayor.

A post-hearing brief from attorneys Jen Sarafina and R. Todd Creer, representing the city, says the mayor was not present for any meetings or briefings regarding the outsourcing of the Human Resources Department.

Las Vegas attorney Adam Levine, who represented Washington and Bonner, did not respond to multiple phone and email requests for comment today.

Washington and Bonner’s battle with the city dates as far back as July 2013, when their salaries were raised 16.5 percent, from $89,748 to $104,631, to help fill the void left by departing Employee Development Specialist Eddie Bryant.

Washington, who was first hired with the city in 1994, and Bonner, who started working for North Las Vegas in 2002, were promoted to principal human resources analysts as a result of Bryant’s departure.

That November, the city rescinded the raises, a post-hearing brief said, and two months later started assessing third-party bidders to take on its HR and various other departments.

Washington and Bonner filed their joint Employee Management Relations Board complaint alleging discrimination on March 10, 2014.

In May 2014, both also filed discrimination charges against the city with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By the end of 2014, North Las Vegas agreed to raise their salaries to $100,000 and pay the two retroactively to include the 16.5 percent raises given in 2013.

Other recent cuts made by the city include the outsourcing of its Public Works Department, which shrank from 287 employees in 2008 to 66 employees as of this week, its detention facility, landscaping services and crossing guards.

The city staff fell by 50 percent from 2007 to 2013 as North Las Vegas struggled to meet “its financial and service” obligations, according to the brief.