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NRS 288.140

Right of employee to join or refrain from joining employee organization; exceptions; discrimination by employer prohibited; limitations on nonmember acting on own behalf; membership of law enforcement officer and civilian employee of metropolitan police department

Known as the Government Employee-Management Relations Act

The act spans §§ 288–288 (89 sections).

Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Ruiz v. City of North Las Vegas (2011)

Most recently applied in Ruiz v. City of North Las Vegas (May 2011)

(Added to NRS by 1969, 1377; A 2011, 2900; 2023, 400, 1699; 2025, 1130)

How often courts cite this section

20002010201120
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. It is the right of every local government employee, subject to the limitations provided in subsections 3, 4 and 5, to join any employee organization of the employee’s choice or to refrain from joining any employee organization. A local government employer shall not discriminate in any way among its employees on account of membership or nonmembership in an employee organization.

2. The recognition of an employee organization for negotiation, pursuant to this chapter, does not preclude any local government employee who is not a member of that employee organization from acting for himself or herself with respect to any condition of his or her employment, but any action taken on a request or in adjustment of a grievance shall be consistent with the terms of an applicable negotiated agreement, if any.

3. A police officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff or other law enforcement officer may be a member of an employee organization only if such employee organization is composed exclusively of law enforcement officers.

4. A civilian employee of a metropolitan police department which is organized pursuant to chapter 280 of NRS may be a member of an employee organization only if such employee organization is composed exclusively of civilian employees of a metropolitan police department which is organized pursuant to chapter 280 of NRS.

5. The following persons may not be a member of an employee organization:

(a) A supervisory employee described in paragraph (b) of subsection 1 of NRS 288.138, including but not limited to appointed officials and department heads who are primarily responsible for formulating and administering management, policy and programs.

(b) A doctor or physician who is employed by a local government employer.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, an attorney who is employed by a local government employer and who is assigned to a civil law division, department or agency. The provisions of this paragraph do not apply with respect to an attorney for the duration of a collective bargaining agreement to which the attorney is a party as of July 1, 2011.

6. As used in this section, “doctor or physician” means a doctor, physician, genetic counselor, homeopathic physician, osteopathic physician, chiropractic physician, practitioner of Oriental medicine, naprapath, podiatric physician or practitioner of optometry, as those terms are defined or used, respectively, in NRS 630.014, 630.0118, 630A.050, 633.091, chapter 634 of NRS, chapter 634A of NRS, NRS 634B.050, chapter 635 of NRS or chapter 636 of NRS.

Official source: Nevada Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Nevada statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.