Las Vegas Sends ‘Compliance Ambassadors’ To Check Businesses

 

On Friday, the city of Las Vages issued a reminder to businesses in the city that the city’s “compliance ambassadors” would visit businesses to make sure they were obeying Democrat Nevada governor Steve Sisolak’s directives regarding COVID-19. The city tweeted, “Our business license & compliance ambassadors continue to visit 300 businesses per day every day, to ensure they are following @GovSisolak’s recent directive to help keep workers and visitors safe.”

On October 2, the city of Las Vegas offered an update on coronavirus restrictions for businesses, arguing that the city’s “compliance ambassadors” were simply “observing behaviors and verifying whether violations are occurring.” The city stated:

We will continue to enforce and to educate businesses about the governor’s recent directive and social distancing requirements. Beginning this weekend, the city’s business license officers and compliance ambassadors will visit 2 percent of the city’s businesses, or about 300 businesses per day every day, to ensure they are following the governor’s recent directive. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak recently signed Emergency Directive 033, adjusting statewide standards on gatherings and other areas. The new directive changes the previous limitation on gatherings from 50 people to 250 people or 50 percent of occupancy, whichever is less. This applies to both indoor and outdoor venues, including houses of worship.

Compliance ambassadors are not enforcing the directive; they are observing behaviors and verifying whether violations are occurring. If there is an enforcement action that needs to be taken, that will be done by a business license officer. The compliance ambassadors are existing city employees; they are not new hires or newly added positions. These employees have been reassigned to the ambassadors program temporarily from their normal department. These ambassadors have been trained to identify whether any violations of the directive are occurring and to educate the business owners. If these ambassadors observe a clear violation of the directive, they will refer that to a business license officer who will then visit the business and address the violation. Business license officers have the ability to write citations and issue fines.

By using ambassadors to observe behaviors, business license officers are able to focus 100 percent of their time on addressing violations, to help keep customers and employees safe.

Fox 5 Vegas reported on October 5, “Four Nevada businesses were cited and fined last week for failing to comply with coronavirus workplace safety measures. The Nevada Division of Industrial Relations (DIR) on Monday said that three Las Vegas businesses and a Pahrump winery were issued citations and fines resulting from observations conducted Sept. 28 through Oct. 2. … Welding Nevada in Las Vegas was fined $4,048 … LMG, LLC and Hel LLC dba Sea Salt in Las Vegas were fined $6,073 and $4,858 respectively… the third business Pahrump Valley Winery was fined $8,501.”

“If the observed violations are substantiated, a notice of citation and penalty can be issued. The maximum penalty of $134,940 can be assessed to an employer that willfully violates the provisions of the effective directives and guidance,” Fox 5 Vegas noted.