- 82nd Session (2023)
Senate Bill No. 166–Senators Pazina; Daly,
Dondero Loop and Nguyen
Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen Hibbetts and Yurek
CHAPTER..........
AN ACT relating to collective bargaining; revising the definition of
“supervisory employee” for the purposes of collective
bargaining for local government and state employees;
revising the provisions relating to bargaining units of state
employees who are peace officers or supervisory employees;
and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law prohibits employees who exercise certain duties under a
paramilitary command structure from being deemed supervisory employees solely
due to the exercise of such duties. (NRS 288.138) Section 1 of this bill also
excludes from being deemed supervisory employees solely due to the exercise of
certain duties under a paramilitary command structure certain employees who
provide civilian support services to a law enforcement agency.
Existing law requires the Government Employee-Management Relations Board
to establish one bargaining unit per group for certain occupational groups of
employees of the Executive Department, including category I, category II and
category III peace officers and supervisory employees from all occupational
groups. (NRS 288.515) Section 2 of this bill requires the Board to establish a
separate bargaining unit for supervisory employees who are: (1) category I peace
officers; (2) category II peace officers; (3) category III peace officers; and (4)
firefighters. Section 2 also provides that a bargaining unit for peace officers must
be composed exclusively of peace officers.
Section 3 of this bill provides that the amendatory provisions of this bill do not
apply during the current term of any collective bargaining agreement entered into
before July 1, 2023.
EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NRS 288.138 is hereby amended to read as follows:
288.138 1. “Supervisory employee” includes:
(a) Any individual having authority in the interest of the
employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote,
discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees or
responsibility to direct them, to adjust their grievances or effectively
to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing, the
exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical
nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. The exercise
– 2 –
- 82nd Session (2023)
of such authority shall not be deemed to place the employee in
supervisory employee status unless the exercise of such authority
occupies a significant portion of the employee’s workday. If any of
the following persons perform some, but not all, of the foregoing
duties under a paramilitary command structure, such a person shall
not be deemed a supervisory employee solely because of such
duties:
(1) A police officer, as defined in NRS 288.215;
(2) A firefighter, as defined in NRS 288.215; [or]
(3) A person who:
(I) Has the powers of a peace officer pursuant to NRS
289.150, 289.170, 289.180 or 289.190; and
(II) Is a local government employee who is authorized to
be in a bargaining unit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter [.] ;
or
(4) A person who:
(I) Provides civilian support services to a law
enforcement agency; and
(II) Is an employee who is authorized to be in a
bargaining unit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Any individual or class of individuals appointed by the
employer and having authority on behalf of the employer to:
(1) Hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, terminate,
promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees or
responsibility to direct them, to adjust their grievances or to
effectively recommend such action;
(2) Make budgetary decisions; and
(3) Be consulted on decisions relating to collective
bargaining,
if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such
authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires
the use of independent judgment. The exercise of such authority
shall not be deemed to place the employee in supervisory employee
status unless the exercise of such authority occupies a significant
portion of the employee’s workday.
2. Nothing in this section shall be construed to mean that an
employee who has been given incidental administrative duties shall
be classified as a supervisory employee.
Sec. 2. NRS 288.515 is hereby amended to read as follows:
288.515 1. [The] Except as otherwise provided in subsection
2, the Board shall establish one bargaining unit for each of the
following occupational groups of employees of the Executive
Department:
– 3 –
- 82nd Session (2023)
(a) Labor, maintenance, custodial and institutional employees,
including, without limitation, employees of penal and correctional
institutions who are not responsible for security at those institutions.
(b) Administrative and clerical employees, including, without
limitation, legal support staff and employees whose work involves
general office work, or keeping or examining records and accounts.
(c) Technical aides to professional employees, including,
without limitation, computer programmers, tax examiners,
conservation employees and regulatory inspectors.
(d) Professional employees who do not provide health care,
including, without limitation, engineers, scientists and accountants.
(e) Professional employees who provide health care, including,
without limitation, physical therapists and other employees in
medical and other professions related to health.
(f) Employees, other than professional employees, who provide
health care and personal care, including, without limitation,
employees who provide care for children.
(g) Category I peace officers.
(h) Category II peace officers.
(i) Category III peace officers.
(j) Supervisory employees from all occupational groups [.] other
than firefighters and category I, category II or category III peace
officers.
(k) Firefighters.
(l) Supervisory employees who are category I peace officers.
(m) Supervisory employees who are category II peace officers.
(n) Supervisory employees who are category III peace officers.
(o) Supervisory employees who are firefighters.
2. Any bargaining unit established for peace officers
pursuant to subsection 1 must be composed exclusively of peace
officers.
3. The Board shall determine the classifications of employees
within each bargaining unit. The parties to a collective bargaining
agreement may assign a new classification to a bargaining unit
based upon the similarity of the new classification to other
classifications within the bargaining unit. If the parties to a
collective bargaining agreement do not agree to the assignment of a
new classification to a bargaining unit, the Board must assign a new
classification to a bargaining unit based upon the similarity of the
new classification to other classifications within the bargaining unit.
[3.] 4. As used in this section:
(a) “Category I peace officer” has the meaning ascribed to it in
NRS 289.460.
– 4 –
- 82nd Session (2023)
(b) “Category II peace officer” has the meaning ascribed to it in
NRS 289.470.
(c) “Category III peace officer” has the meaning ascribed to it in
NRS 289.480.
(d) “Professional employee” means an employee engaged in
work that:
(1) Is predominately intellectual and varied in character as
opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work;
(2) Involves the consistent exercise of discretion and
judgment in its performance;
(3) Is of such a character that the result accomplished or
produced cannot be standardized in relation to a given period; and
(4) Requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or
learning customarily acquired through a prolonged course of
specialized intellectual instruction and study in an institution of
higher learning, as distinguished from general academic education,
an apprenticeship or training in the performance of routine mental or
physical processes.
(e) “Supervisory employee” has the meaning ascribed to it in
paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of NRS 288.138.
Sec. 3. Insofar as they conflict with the provisions of such an
agreement, the amendatory provisions of this act do not apply
during the current term of any collective bargaining agreement
entered into before July 1, 2023, but do apply to any extension or
renewal of such an agreement and to any collective bargaining
agreement entered into on or after July 1, 2023. For the purposes of
this section, the term of a collective bargaining agreement ends on
the date provided in the agreement, notwithstanding the provisions
of NRS 288.550 or any provision of the agreement that it remains in
effect, in whole or in part, after that date until a successor agreement
becomes effective.
Sec. 4. This act becomes effective on July 1, 2023.
20 ~~~~~ 23