Employee relations board to discuss reopening claim against North Las Vegas mayor

An administrative board on Tuesday will consider whether to re-examine allegations from two former employees of North Las Vegas’ human resources department who claimed Mayor John Lee abused his office to hire friends and acquaintances.

Last month, the Employee-Management Relations Board sided with the city and rejected requests from Tammy Bonner and Bachera Washington to get their jobs back and receive attorney’s fees and back pay.

A member of that panel, which handles disagreements between local governments and employees, requested a discussion on whether the case should be reopened.

If approved, deliberations would begin during the board’s next meeting in March. The name of the board member and the reason for the request were not disclosed.

In a complaint filed in 2015, Bonner and Washington claimed that the city’s decision to privatize functions of the human resources department as a way to save money was a ruse to get rid of workers who criticized the mayor.

North Las Vegas officials struggled to recover from the recession and implemented a plan to outsource the city’s human resources department, resulting in savings of $1 million to $2 million over two years. The complaint alleged that Bonner’s and Washington’s checks were dated the same day that the council voted on the privatization plan.

Bonner and Washington alleged that their jobs were eliminated as retaliation for filing an ethics complaint against the mayor. Bonner had worked for the city for 13 years; Washington worked there 22 years.

Previously, Bonner and Washington filed separate complaints in 2014 alleging their raises were improperly taken away. The city reached a settlement in that case in December 2014, agreeing to pay each of them $100,000 and give them back pay.

Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.