It Shouldn't be That Way.

NRS 608.160 Taking or making deduction on account of tips or gratuities unlawful; employees may divide tips or gratuities among themselves.
1. It is unlawful for any person to:
(a) Take all or part of any tips or gratuities bestowed upon his employees.
(b) Apply as a credit toward the payment of the statutory minimum hourly wage established by any law of this State any tips or gratuities bestowed upon his employees.
2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent such employees from entering into an agreement to divide such tips or gratuities among themselves.


Every state has laws that protect working people, and in every state there are those who consider these laws to be inconvenient at best. It is their belief that any law that prevents the employer from being able to take money from those who work for them at a whim is wrong. In plainer language they consider such protections to be “socialist claptrap”, “communist propaganda”, and other assorted descriptions. The fact that such laws exist, are on the books and are enforceable…let’s put it this way, to them it is extremely ill-mannered to even bring them up in conversation.

Terry Graves is one of the board members of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce here in Southern Nevada. I have known him for over 2 years and in all that time, even though I strongly support business and he knows it, he hasn’t forgiven me for introducing AB 357, a bill that would have stopped the violation of the above law.

According to Terry and every other Republican in any position of leadership, any politician who stands against businesses violating employee protection laws is, by definition, an enemy. It is the same mentality union members run into when they refuse to steal from their employer by the various assorted methods their associates have cooked up. It is the same mentality Frank Serpico ran into when he decided to refuse the offered bribe money his fellow cops were taking. It is the reason Sue Lowden, the Nevada State Party Chair said of me, “He’s too honest, we can’t trust him.” The world of politics has become a sewer and the rats are running the system.

Not every politician is dishonest or hypocritical, but damn few aren’t, and it is up to the voter to do the weeding. Unfortunately that requires work and the ability to read. Why do you think politicians talk so loudly about improving education but rarely do anything to do so?

When I stood up and declared my intention to represent all my constituents regardless of their race, age, sex, income or power, I immediately alienated every member of my Assembly Caucus except for two people, Lynn Stewart and Garn Maybe. It should be noted that Garn retired and was replaced by yet another hypocrite NeoCon. The party tried to replace Lynn but lost badly. Sometimes good people actually get a second chance.

Employee protection laws exist because for too long employers considered those people working for them to be little more than just another one of their possessions; beasts of burden at best. Well, the law says different. If you don’t like what the law says, change it through the legislative or initiative process. You do not have the option to simply ignore it…or you shouldn’t have. Two of my fellow Republican scholars agreed with that attitude wholeheartedly, that is until I proposed a law that would have inconvenienced them; immigration reform that would have targeted those employers who knowingly violate America’s immigration laws. It seems they were enjoying the benefits of hiring illegal aliens at a small fraction of the minimum wage and since the people working for them were illegal, they were also profiting by not having to pay taxes, benefits, etc. Isn’t it interesting that folks who call themselves constitutional scholars can so readily violate the constitution when that violation puts cash into their pocket?

The problem is that we as Americans have become so used to our representatives being lying two-faced hypocrites that we don’t know how to handle it when we actually get one that doesn’t fit that mold. The media certainly can’t. They have used the line “We can’t find anything,” meaning scandal, “So they must be hiding something,” and then go to press with the assumption that that individual is guilty before proved innocent. We saw this with the treatment of Sarah Palin. The political parties are very aware of this and will treat those who run for office accordingly. They will decide who may upset those business interests and organizations that donate to the party and work to trash that person’s reputation all for a few more campaign dollars. Whether or not such action is moral or even right is beside the point, its politics.

It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. The sad part is that it has become accepted.