+ Marquiz Law Office Professional Corporation + VIA FACSIMILE & ELECTRONIC MAIL October 28, 2022 Kevin Pick Aaron D. Ford Senior Deputy Attorney General Nevada Attorney General Office of the Attorney General 100 N. Carson Street Personnel Division Carson City, NV 89701 5420 Kietzke Lane, Ste. 202 Fax: (775) 684-1108 Reno, NV 89511 vbeav. v.g0V Fax: (775) 688-1822 [email protected] Re: Charles Daniels Dear Messrs. Pick & Ford: Please note that the Marquiz Law Office, P.C. has been retained by Charles Daniels to pursue, if necessary, age and racial employment discrimination claims against the State of Nevada for its erroneous dismissal of Charles (an African-American male executive within a protected age class who was forced to resign under duress) as a political sacrifice to divert attention away from Governor Sisolak’s struggling reelection campaign. Accordingly, until this matter is fully resolved, please send all future communications regarding same directly to my attention. As you may know, from December 10, 2019 through September 30, 2022, Charles was an exemplary employee - one whose “long and respected career as a corrections professional in state and federal systems ... [brought] ... knowledge, management experience and perspective that [provided necessary] structure, accountability and reform to the Nevada Department of Corrections (“DOC”). Sadly, in an effort to eliminate questions surrounding the unfortunate escape of inmate Porfirio Duarte-Herrera (i.e., in the wake of acknowledged “severe staffing shortages” and unmanned towers throughout Nevada's prison systems — conditions that Charles repeatedly complained of throughout his tenure, but for which the Governor refused to allocate any funding to correct), Governor Sisolak made Charles his scapegoat and, in so doing, wrongfully forced Charles to resign or otherwise face immediate termination. Tellingly, Governor Sisolak’s politically-motivated actions directly contradict the State of Nevada’s prior treatment of DOC Directors following prisoner escapes and/or riots at DOC facilities (i.e., where 5 white male and 1 white female executives were not forced to resign nor did they otherwise face adverse employment consequences). Even more troubling, however, the State of Nevada's 3088 Vie Flaminia Court, Henderson, NV 89052 Phone: 702.263.8833 Fax: 702.263.5532 [email protected]Kevin Pick Aaron D. Ford October 28, 2022 Page 2 decision to remove Charles from his post several hours after he lodged a hostile work environment / whistle-blower complaint against Governor Sisolak’ | (.e., for the egregious conduct, discrimination and racial animus employed by the Governor's Office and its staff based upon Charles’ refusal to “re-write” the narrative of the underlying escape to coincide with what the media was reporting in response to a specific directive issued by EEE behalf of the Governor) - a matter which was not investigated by the State and/or the State Attorney General’s Office prior to the adverse and retaliatory employment action against Charles.' See Hostile Work Environment Complaint attached hereto as Exhibit 1 Asa direct, proximate and foreseeable result, Charles has been humiliated, ridiculed and unnecessarily victimized — reputational harm which will be addressed publicly in the coming days if an amicable resolution and severance cannot be achieved. In this regard, Charles had ‘Interestingly, despite all three recipients (i.e., Yvanna Cancela, Chief of Staff for Governor Sisolak; Kevin Benson, General Counsel for Governor Sisolak; and Randal Golmer, Chief Deputy Attomey General) acknowledging their receipt of Charles’ Whistleblower Complaint prior to the adverse employment action, not one of those individuals initiated any investigation nor otherwise afforded Charles any Whistleblower protections as mandated by, among other statutes, NRS 281.611 ef seq., thereby rendering his dismissal “retaliatory” as a matter of law. > Notably, during an anticipated press conference, Charles will also correct the record as to the timing and circumstances of Governor Sisolak’s knowledge of the underlying escape. In particular, contrary to Governor Sisolak’s claimed lack of knowledge and alleged “cover-up” by DOC staff, Charles will confirm that the Governor’ Office / staff were notified within fifteen (15) minutes of Charles being notified of a potential escape on the morning of September 27, 2022. Specifically, in addition to voice-mail messages being left for Governor Sisolak’s General Counsel (Kevin Benson) and Chief of Staff (Yvonna Cansela), Charles spoke with Deputy General Counsel (Erica Roth) to apprise the Governor's Office of a potential escape, that outside law enforcement and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were already apprised. Minutes later, Charles, the agency's Executive Team, the Governor’s Deputy Director of Operations (Bill Gittere) and Inspector General (Kendall Jones) ~ all of whom were located at Metro's FUSION Center for a briefing on integrated communication software and hard assets — learned simultaneously from Warden Najera that a poorly crafted dummy was found in a cell which created concerns that an escape had occurred. Inspector General Jones, in turn, immediately notified Supervisory Agent (Brian Shields) and directed him to contact the Fugitive Task Force of the escape. Thus, Governor Sisolak’s statements were false and his claimed “lack of knowledge” was inaccurate and mislead the public at large.Kevin Pick Aaron D. Ford October 28, 2022 Page 3 planned on retiring from his DOC Director post within seven (7) years. Due to his forced resignation, however, Charles has lost the financial benefit of the next seven years of salary, health insurance and retirement contributions. While Charles acknowledges the $5,000 severance gesture from Governor Sisolak and the State of Nevada, itis a far ery from what is required to fully and fairly compensate Charles for his loss and role as Governor Sisolak’s sacrificial lamb / scapegoat. To that end, in the interest of reaching an amicable resolution of this matter, avoiding a press conference (where Charles would rehabilitate his reputation through a disclosure of the truth of Nevada’s prison systems, his repeated requests to Governor Sisolak for necessary funding to address DOC worker safety and inmate health concerns, and the truth regarding the timing / circumstances of Governor Sisolak’s knowledge of the underlying escape) and eliminate the need for protracted litigation (¢.g., an EEOC Complaint and post-investigation federal lawsuit where Charles would pursue, among other relief, all of his monetary damages, accrued and accruing interest, attorney’s fees and costs), demand is hereby made upon the State of Nevada for the payment of $1,050,000 (i.e., 7 x $150,000 per year - Charles’ current salary). In this regard, Charles demands that the State of Nevada agrees to pay the specified severance by 5:00 p.m. on November 1, 2022 with the actual severance payment to be made within ten (10) days from the parties’ execution of a Mutual Release & Settlement Agreement with confidentiality and non- disparagement provisions. If you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter further, please call me. If not, I look forward to receiving the State of Nevada’s response by 5:00 p.m. on November 1, 2022. Additionally, a within ten (10) days from the date of this letter, a complete copy of Charles’ employment file, including, without limitatio priv! documentation referencing, regarding or relating 10 Governor Sisolak's forced resignation / termination decision Co oS ‘enti AV-Preeminent Rated Attomey Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America