Nevada unemployment is contained within the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR). The unemployment case is an administrative process with truncated rules of evidence and procedures. For information on the process of appealing an unemployment decision, you can check out the post here.  

Often people who file for unemployment or file an appeal of the denial of their unemployment benefits have additional legal claims. Those claims might be against their former employer or a co-worker. The claims could be defamation, wrongful termination or any number of other claims.

After going through the unemployment appeal process and obtaining a favorable result, employees often assume they can use the written decision from the DETR referee to their advantage in a court case. I have seen this come up several times in arbitration proceedings under a CBA and also in cases before state and federal courts.

Can That Unemployment Decision Be Used in Court?

The unfortunate answer to this question is No. Nevada law prohibits and prevents any person from using an unemployment appeal decision in another proceeding.

The applicable Nevada statute states:

Any finding of fact or law, judgment, determination, conclusion or final order made by the Administrator or an Appeal Tribunal, examiner, Board of Review, district court or any other person with the authority to make findings of fact or law pursuant to NRS 612.450 to 612.530, inclusive, is not admissible or binding in any separate or subsequent action or proceeding, between a person and that person’s present or previous employer brought before an arbitrator, court or judge of this State or the United States, regardless of whether the prior action was between the same or related parties or involved the same facts.

To put this in plain English, the unemployment referee’s written appeal decision cannot be used to prove liability or fault of any employer for other claims. 

By way of example, lets say Sarah was terminated and filed for unemployment. Her claim was denied and she appealed. She then won her appeal and received a written referee’s decision in her favor. Her employer claimed she engaged in serious misconduct by stealing from a cash register. The referee’s decision stated she did not engage in misconduct. Sarah cannot use the referee’s decision to support her defamation or wrongful discharge claim. A judge or jury is not permitted to look at the decision or know the unemployment appeal decision exists. Consequently, she has to provide she did not engage in misconduct anew. 

Obtaining Advice on Nevada Employment Claims

This blog post is only legal information and does not provide legal advice. It is not intended to form and does not form an attorney-client relationship between the reader and the author. The only way to obtain advice on your specific employment law concerns is to retain a licensed attorney.