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The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has approved a modification to its collective bargaining agreement with the Service Employees International Union that includes a new provision for union employees to cash in personal time off for pay.
The 14-member board on Tuesday unanimously approved the modification that gives union workers the same benefit as their nonunion LVCVA counterparts. The union represents 314 employees of the LVCVA, which also has about 200 non-workers.
In a separate action, the board approved a plan to buy out up to 14 employees in a voluntary separation program as the board and the city move to mothball Cashman Center.
LVCVA officials value the potential personal-time-off payout — both vacation and sick time — at $350,000 in fiscal 2019, an amount that would be accrued regardless of whether the new program was approved.
Under the new policy, employees with at least 500 accrued hours of time off can elect to cash out up to 100 hours at their existing pay rate.
Under the policy, employees would have until Nov. 1 each year to request a cashout, basing it on future hours accrued, so that the money received isn’t subject to federal income tax in accordance with IRS rules.
LVCVA to manage field
The Cashman matter, also unanimously approved, is LVCVA
part of the LVCVA’S strategy to save up to $5 million a year that would go toward the $1.4 billion Las Vegas Convention Center expansion and renovation project. The city agreed earlier this year to take over Cashman and has since negotiated a 15-year lease agreement with the Las Vegas Lights FC United Soccer League team, which will begin play at Cashman in February.
The LVCVA will continue to manage Cashman Field for both the soccer team and the minor-league baseball Las Vegas 51s. On Tuesday it gave the board new details on how the two teams will share the facility.
The planned voluntary separation program is expected to save $1.4 million in salary and benefits in fiscal 2019 after spending an estimated $282,000 for buyouts.
The Cashman Center campus will continue to need security and general maintenance, but with the closure of Cashman’s 98,000-square-foot convention area and its 1,992-seat theater, up to 14 operations positions are expendable. The LVCVA has 53 employees working at Cashman.
Program participants will receive one week of pay for every full year of service, with a maximum payout of 26 weeks, plus three months of paid health insurance premiums.
Eligibility for the program will be based on an employee’s age plus
years of service, which must equal or exceed 65.
Scheduling
The board also learned details about the 51s and the Lights sharing Cashman Field beginning next year.
Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of operations, said modifying the field for the soccer team would require scheduling coordination that’s already done at stadiums housing the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays, as well as the Pacific Coast League Reno Aces.
Jicinsky said the 51s are the subordinate tenant, and its 70-game home schedule would have priority on the field. Once the 2018 baseball schedule is complete, the soccer team will
look for windows of six to 10 days when the 51s are on road trips so that workers can transform the baseball field into a soccer pitch.
The Lights hope to schedule 16 to 20 home games during their season, which runs from March to October. Because the 51s don’t start play until April and end in early September, the soccer schedule may be loaded with home games at the beginning and end of the season.
When the field is reconfigured, a sheet will be placed over the infield to prevent grass on top of the plastic from taking root, Jicinsky said.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702477-3893. Follow @Rickvelotta on Twitter.