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Panel hears bill to codify 45-day service rule for unemployment appeals
Summary
The Senate committee heard testimony on Assembly Bill 12, which would codify a 45-day service requirement for petitions seeking judicial review of unemployment benefit board decisions, making the deadline explicitly jurisdictional in statute.
CARSON CITY — The Senate Committee on Finance, Commerce and Labor held a hearing on Assembly Bill 12 on a proposal to codify in statute a 45-day service requirement for petitions seeking judicial review of board of review decisions on unemployment benefits.
Troy Jordan, deputy director and deputy legal counsel at the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR), told the committee, “we are not changing any laws. we are codifying what the judiciary has ruled with regard to this statute.” Jordan said the change is intended to make clear to claimants, employers and attorneys that service within 45 days is mandatory and deprives the court of jurisdiction if not met.
The bill targets NRS 612.530 and would add an explicit subsection stating that petitions must be served on the administrator or the administrator’s designee within 45 days after the commencement of the action, and that failure to comply “deprives the court of jurisdiction over the action.” Jordan said the language largely reflects recent Nevada appellate decisions construing the service rule as jurisdictional.
Why it matters: Jordan emphasized that many unemployment claimants are unrepresented or represented pro bono, and that strict service deadlines have produced outright dismissals. He argued codifying the case law in statute will make the rule more visible to nonexpert litigants and reduce inadvertent procedural dismissals.
Committee members pressed for detail on scope and effect. Senator Scheibel asked whether the statute already contains a 45-day provision and the deputy director clarified the bill “expands on the 45-day requirement” and makes explicit the court’s lack of discretion to excuse late service under current case law. Vice Chair Daley asked who the parties typically are; Jordan answered the three-party structure for unemployment matters is the administrator, the employer and the claimant, and that missed service has led to dismissals by employers and claimants alike.
Background from DETR presented during the hearing traced the issue to a sequence of Nevada cases that treated the Administrative Procedures Act’s service provisions as mandatory and jurisdictional. Jordan referenced earlier decisions (described in testimony as Washoe County v. Auto; SPAR; Chopra; Noakley; and Joran) as the judicial history prompting the department’s statutory clarification. Jordan said DETR added a 45-day provision to its statute after a 2019 decision and that subsequent cases reaffirmed the provision’s jurisdictional character.
No members of the public testified in person or by phone in support or opposition during the hearing, and the committee closed the public portion for AB 12 without a recorded vote.
The bill was presented at a committee hearing; no final action or vote was recorded in the transcript. If enacted, AB 12 would make explicit in NRS 612.530 that courts lack jurisdiction if the 45-day service requirement is not met, aligning statutory text with the department’s reading of Nevada case law.
