Work Card Law in Nevada Is Too Broad, Critics Contend

A decades-old law requiring police-issued work cards for casino workers has grown to include so many others--from antiques dealers to dance instructors--as to be unconstitutional, say critics who are threatening a lawsuit.

Leaders of the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union say they don’t object to the requirement for workers in casinos, topless joints and cocktail lounges. The work cards prove these workers have been fingerprinted and that a background check shows no convictions for crimes that are relevant to their occupations, such as prostitution for an exotic dancer.

But over the years, despite the state’s live-and-let-live reputation, Nevada’s counties and cities have ordered work cards for a wide range of other employees--including some who have nothing to do with gambling, sex or alcohol.

In hotels that operate casinos, work cards are required of all employees: maids, front-desk clerks, back-office secretaries, valet attendants, retail clerks and food service employees.

And outside of casino hotels, work cards are required--either by the city of Las Vegas, surrounding Clark County or both--of door-to-door salesmen, telephone solicitors, dance instructors, owners of antiques shops, charity solicitors, locksmiths, pawnbrokers, martial-arts instructors, out-call entertainers, astrologers and ice cream truck drivers, among others.

Las Vegas authorities maintain that work-card requirements keep the city safe--and send a message to employers and tourists that the workers are trustworthy.

“We want to project an image of security and public safety when people come to town,” said Doug Bradford, spokesman for the Clark County Board of Commissioners. “It’s difficult knowing where to draw the line, but we try to do the best we can to regulate the various industries to ensure the proper behavior of their workers.”

Though hard-pressed to cite examples, officials maintain other cities around the country have similar standards.

But the ACLU contends that no other city or county requires police checks for as many occupations as does Las Vegas. Neither city nor county government in Los Angeles has similar requirements.

In Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County, 92,631 work cards were issued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Police in nearby North Las Vegas and Henderson operate similar programs. An employee must pay $35 to $74 for a card every five years or whenever moving to a new job.

The law is improperly broad, critics contend, amounting to an unconstitutional infringement of the right to seek employment.

“What started out as a well-intentioned plan to ensure the integrity of gaming operations has grown into a wild bush that needs to be pruned back drastically,” said Mike Slate, director of the Interfaith Council for Worker Justice, another group critical of work cards.

Controversy over work cards, first required as casinos sprouted in the 1950s, has been brewing for 25 years. Criticism was renewed last month after Clark County announced a plan to require fingerprinting and background checks for ministers who perform marriage ceremonies.

The proposed requirement--as well as the county’s attempt to define who is a minister--prompted complaints from civil libertarians and local clergy. The county postponed enforcing the new rules until a committee of county officials, ACLU representatives and ministers reviews the question.

Although Clark County Dist. Atty. Stu Bell said the minister issue has nothing to do with work cards, critics say the requirements are virtually the same.

“Nevada is a one-industry state--tourism--and the powers that be seem to want to control what everyone does,” said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the local ACLU.

Indeed, critics say the issue reflects a facet of Nevada culture not well understood by outsiders: The state’s libertarian reputation does not translate into strong support for individual rights, they contend.

“Libertarianism in Nevada means freedom for business to do what it pleases--but not necessarily for you as an individual,” said Hal Rothman, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “And local government is fundamentally an arm of corporations, functioning in the role of personnel department, by screening workers on behalf of employers.”

John Redlein, an assistant Las Vegas city attorney, said local governments have a right to ensure the moral character of workers employed in fields where their customers could be easily victimized.

For example, locksmiths and apartment managers need police approval so thieves don’t get access to people’s belongings, Redlein said. Pawn shop owners, antiques dealers and auctioneers are screened to guard against people who fence stolen property. And ice cream vendors, child care workers and martial-arts instructors are reviewed to spot people convicted of crimes against children.

Attention is paid, he said, to the relevance of the person’s criminal background to the job he seeks. “An ax murderer or child molester could probably get a job at a bar, but not at a child-care center,” he said.

The Police Department has discretion in rejecting work-card applicants, and is told to look for a connection between the crime and the job, Redlein said. People who are turned down can appeal to the City Council or, in the case of county applicants, the Board of Commissioners.

Last month, a convicted forger who had been turned down by police for a card to work at a child-care center successfully appealed to the City Council.

Ardel Jorgensen, director of the Clark County business license department, acknowledges that some of the work card categories should be reconsidered.

She said she wasn’t sure why the county for decades has required work cards for dance instructors.

And she acknowledged the program is administered inconsistently: All maids in the county are required to have work cards, but that requirement isn’t enforced in non-gambling hotels.

The ACLU maintains government should not order workers to undergo police checks as a condition of private employment except for jobs at businesses such as casinos and liquor outlets that need government approval to operate.

If changes aren’t forthcoming, a lawsuit contesting the broad reach of the program will be filed, said Gary Peck, executive director of the local ACLU.

“This is the highest-priority issue for us right now,” Peck said. “If the system is not changed on the initiative of the government, and brought in line with constitutional standards and requirements, we will sue.”