Former Nevada board chief accuses gaming regulators of racial discrimination
A former chief of the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s Administration Division has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the board.
Jaime Black, a Control Board employee since 2014 and appointed to head the Administration Division in June 2017, said in the lawsuit she was pressured by Control Board member Brittnie Watkins to engage in discriminatory hiring practices, then fostered a hostile work environment when she resisted.
A representative of the Control Board said the agency that oversees gaming regulation in the state had not been served with the lawsuit and had no immediate comment on it.
The seven-count lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas and assigned to Judge Miranda Du.
The plaintiff, who is white, filed the lawsuit after exhausting other avenues of appeal.
The lawsuit alleges that Control Board officials violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that protects people from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin and applies to employers, employment agencies, labor organizations and training programs.
Black, formerly a Control Board senior research specialist and Investigations Division agent, was appointed to head the Administration Division by former Control Board Chairman A.G.Burnett.
According to the lawsuit, Watkins, who is Black, was appointed in April 2021 by then-Gov. Steve Sisolak and was directed by then-Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson to oversee the Administration Division, which monitors human resource management, training, facilities, contracts, purchasing, accounting, payroll, budgeting and records retention.
According to the lawsuit, shortly after being appointed to the board, Watkins “commenced advocating explicitly and/or implicitly a preference for disregarding the board’s focus of hiring the most qualified applicant – and therefore the laws of Nevada and the United States of America.”
The lawsuit also said Watkins, who is an attorney, wanted to hire Black residents of Southern Nevada to positions in Northern Nevada.
The lawsuit said Watkins “intended to hire applicants who lived in the Las Vegas and Henderson areas – because those areas have more Black residents. Watkins allowed Northern Nevada residents who were non-minority applicants to interview for apparently available positions, after expressly manifesting an intent to refuse to consider hiring them.”
In the lawsuit, Black said that when she refused to abide by those directions, the work environment became increasingly hostile. She eventually was directed to take an extensive administrative leave which she believed was in retaliation for her resistance.
Black felt being placed on leave for an extended period led colleagues and others to believe she had committed a crime or some form of serious wrongdoing.
Black seeks a jury trial and is asking for unspecified compensatory damages, attorneys fees and “an injunction to compel defendant to author, publish and properly enforce a reasonable policy against race-related discrimination, race-related harassment and/or retaliation …”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.