State’s new labor commissioner credits life in BC for strong mores

Growing up in Boulder City gave Brett Harris, the state’s newly appointed labor commissioner, a strong sense of community — something that she carries into her work.

“When you’re part of a community, you care about doing the things or making sure that things are done that make the community overall better. It’s not just about individual goals or achievements,” she said. “I mean, it’s the same way; this stuff is so personal. It’s the difference between paying rent or not paying rent, eating or not eating, someone getting dance shoes or dance lessons or not.”

Harris, who moved to Boulder City from Chicago when she was 6, was appointed to the position in September by Terry Reynolds, director of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry.

The office regulates hours, wages and labor in Nevada. It handles wage claims, misclassification of employees, apprenticeships and public works projects like prevailing wage, according to Harris. She said she likes this work because she can actually see the real-world functions of laws and programs that used to only be abstract to her.

Harris said that the scope of her office’s responsibility is so wide that she is working on something different every day, even every hour. She said she thrives with this type of work and likes not doing the same thing every day.

Though she was born in Illinois, Harris said Boulder City is her home and what shaped her life.

“This is where I grew up,” she said. “I think the only memory I have of living in Chicago is literally when my dad took me to my kindergarten best friend’s house to say goodbye. But other than that, everything I remember about my life is here. And I love it here.”

Harris said that when growing up she “lived” in Boulder City’s dance studio, Dance Etc. She said that dancing was her hobby throughout her childhood. That hobby led to Harris attending Las Vegas Academy, where she continued to study dance. Though she went to high school for dance, she did not continue that path after graduation.

After graduating from high school in 2004, Harris said she went to the best college that she could get into, which for her meant New York University. Arriving on the East Coast, Harris said she quickly realized that her desert-acclimated self needed to change her wardrobe to survive the new climate.

She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 2008 and said the recession helped her decide to continue on to law school, partially to wait out the economic downturn. She went to law school in Las Vegas, at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.

Harris was admitted to the Nevada bar in 2011. She then worked for multiple law firms for six years until she started her own practice in 2017. In that practice she worked on civil cases like personal injury, medical malpractice and business litigation. Harris worked primarily as a criminal defense lawyer in her own practice, which she said was her favorite role as a lawyer.

Despite her years of experience in law, Harris said she never wanted to work in that field forever.

“I kind of knew very soon into lawyering that I was not where I wanted to be forever, you know, litigating,” she said. “In 2019, I was asked to join the board of employee-management relations.”

Nevada Department of Business and Industry’s Government Employee-Management Relations Board handles prohibited practice claims for government employees, according to Harris. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel defines prohibited practices as violating the employment merit system through discrimination, retaliation, failure to follow laws or regulations that directly address the merit system’s principles.

She worked on the board for three years, until she was appointed labor commissioner.

Harris said that the people in her office are what has impressed her the most in her new position.

“What has been most impressive to me, it’s just the people that work there,” she said. “Like these people see the value in what they do. They care about what they do. They talk passionately and enthusiastically about it; you don’t have one person in that office that doesn’t come to work and try really hard to get their claims done and get money in people’s pockets.”

Harris said that if Nevadans need the help of her office, the best way to reach out is online. She says the office of labor commissioner’s website is “very accessible” and anyone who needs to can fill out a form. The office also does accept walk-ins at both of its locations: in Las Vegas at 3300 W. Sahara Ave., Suite, 225, and in Carson City at 1818 College Parkway, Suite 102.

Though Harris currently lives in Henderson, she regularly visits her father, Roger Harris, 71, and stepmother, Marcie Gibson, 62, who still live in Boulder City. According to Harris, the pair are very involved in the community.

“My stepmom is kind of like the queen of Boulder City in my brain,” she said. “She’s just very involved with everything there — Rotary, chamber, volunteer for events; last Christmas they made her the grand marshal of the parade.”

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCredicoII.