PUB. EMPLOYEES' RET. SYS. OF NEV. v. LAS VEGAS MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS ASS'N

141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 55
Nevada Supreme Court·Decided November 13, 2025·No. 86818·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

141 Nev., Advance Opinion SS

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA i 4

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT No. 86818 SYSTEM OF NEVADA, Appellant,

LAS VEGAS POLICE MANAGERS AND

SUPERVISORS ASSOCIATION; AND NOV 13 20% 3 LAS VEGAS PEACE OFFICERS ; ASSOCIATION, tld Respondents. BY =

Appeal from a district court order granting summary judgment in an action for declaratory relief regarding contributions to the state pension account based on negotiated holidays. Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County; Mark R. Denton, Judge.

Affirmed.

Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada and Ian E. Carr, Carson City, for Appellant.

Law Office of Daniel Marks and Adam Levine and Daniel Marks, Las Vegas, for Respondents.

BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT, EN BANC.

SuprAeme Count OF

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OPINION By the Court, BELL, J.:

The Las Vegas Police Managers and Supervisors Association and the Las Vegas Peace Officers Association enjoy the statutory power to negotiate holidays on behalf of their members. Relevant here, the Associations negotiated with law enforcement agencies for additional holidays. Despite the negotiated agreements, the Nevada Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) refused to collect the increased retirement contribution rates on holiday pay for the additional holidays. The Associations sought and were granted declaratory relief, which PERS now challenges on appeal. We conclude the plain text of NRS 288.150(2)(d) requires PERS to collect additional retirement contributions in line with

increased wages earned on the negotiated holidays. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Associations entered into collective bargaining agreements with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) and the City of Las Vegas designating certain dates as holidays in addition to those codified in statute. In the agreement with Metro, the Associations designated Christmas Eve as a paid holiday, and in the agreement with the City of Las Vegas, the Associations designated New Year's Eve and Juneteenth as paid holidays. With the recognition of the additional holidays, the Associations negotiated a holiday pay rate for those days.

PERS is obligated to collect retirement contributions from participating public employers on all regular compensation earned by employees, which includes increased pay on holidays. But here, PERS

refused to collect contributions on the additional holiday pay negotiated for

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Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Juneteenth because the holidays are not included in Nevada’s statutory list of holidays.

The Associations filed a declaratory relief action to establish PERS’s obligation to collect contributions on negotiated holiday pay and to compel PERS to obtain the appropriate contributions. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Associations and directed PERS to collect the appropriate employer contributions for holiday pay on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Juneteenth. PERS appeals the summary judgment. !

DISCUSSION We are presented with whether NRS 286.025 requires PERS to

ensure additional retirement contributions in line with increased wages earned on negotiated holidays. We hold, by the plain reading of NRS 288.150(2)(d), PERS is required to provide additional contributions based on the Associations’ holiday pay negotiations in the collective bargaining agreements.

This court reviews a grant of summary judgment de novo. Wood uv. Safeway, Inc., 121 Nev. 724, 729, 121 P.3d 1026, 1029 (2005). Summary judgment is appropriate when, construing all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, “there is no genuine dispute as to any

material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

‘Having considered the petition for en banc reconsideration and response in this matter, we have determined that reconsideration is warranted. See NRAP 40A(a). Accordingly, the petition for en banc reconsideration is granted. This court’s previous opinion in this matter, Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada v. Las: Vegas Police Managers and Supervisors Association, 140 Nev., Adv. Op. 80, 561 P.3d 29 (2024), is withdrawn and this opinion is issued in its place.

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NRCP 56({a); see also Wood, 121 Nev. at 729, 121 P.3d at 1029. Because there were no disputed facts below, this matter presents a purely legal question of statutory interpretation, which is also reviewed de novo. City of Henderson v. Wolfgram, 137 Nev. 755, 756, 501 P.3d 422, 424 (2021). The Associations have statutory authority to negotiate holiday pay

The Associations indisputably have the power to negotiate “Thjolidays.” NRS 288.150(2)(d). The question on appeal is the legislature’s intended definition of “holiday” in the statutes governing collective bargaining and PERS. See NRS 288.150; NRS 286.025. Based on a plain reading of the statutes, we conclude PERS is obligated to obtain additional contributions for Juneteenth because it has been a legal! holiday since 2021. Additionally, we conclude the Associations possess statutory authority to negotiate additional holidays for which PERS is obligated to obtain contributions despite not being a party to the actual agreement.

PERS ts obligated to obtain contributions for Juneteenth under its own policy because Juneteenth is a legal holiday

The parties present an issue regarding whether PERS was required to obtain pension contributions based on holiday pay regarding Juneteenth—PERS argued Juneteenth was not a bona fide legal holiday until the final approval of Assembly Bill 140 on June 8, 2023, and the Associations argue it became a legal holiday by virtue of presidential announcement in 2021. We agree with the Associations.

A legal federal holiday can only be created through Congress:

It is not within the power of the President, however, to make by such proclamation, without the authority of Congress, a legal holiday of the day so designated. Such holidays, in so far as they allow the employees of the Government leave of absence with pay, are always established by act of Congress or joint resolution.

Shrine Parade—Authority of President to Close Government Departments, 33 Op. Att’ys Gen. 485, 486 (1924) (cleaned up). Neither Congress nor the President has the ability to declare a national holiday that is binding on the states, as each state individually determines its own legal holidays. Jacob R. Straus, Cong. Rsch. Serv., R41990, Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices (2021). Nevada statutes define state legal holidays in NRS 236.015(1). The statute explicitly lists several holidays but also identifies as a legal holiday “[a]Jny day that may be appointed by the President of the United States for public fast, thanksgiving or as a legal holiday.” dJuneteenth, celebrated on June 19 each year, became the eleventh federally recognized holiday in 2021.

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PUB. EMPLOYEES' RET. SYS. OF NEV. v. LAS VEGAS MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS ASS'N, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 55 (Neb. 2025).

141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 55 (PUB. EMPLOYEES' RET. SYS. OF NEV. v. LAS VEGAS MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS ASS'N) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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PUB. EMPLOYEES' RET. SYS. OF NEV. v. LAS VEGAS MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS ASS'N
141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 55 (Nevada Supreme Court, 2025)