Burgum names new North Dakota labor commissioner

BISMARCK — Gov. Doug Burgum has appointed Bismarck lawyer Nathan Svihovec as head of the North Dakota Division of Labor and Human Rights.

The governor cited Svihovec’s expertise representing private and non-private employers and staff at state and federal ranges.

Svihovec’s “compassion and dedication to eradicating employment obstacles, encouraging cooperative relationships between employers and staff, and making certain truthful remedy for all will serve the residents of North Dakota effectively,” Burgum stated in an announcement issued Tuesday, Nov. 29.

A Watford Metropolis native, Svihovec will begin his new job on Thursday, changing interim commissioner Kathy Kulesa. Kulesa will stay because the division’s human rights director.

Svihovec was most lately an lawyer with a Bismarck regulation agency, representing and advising employers and staff. From 2017 to 2020, he was an assistant lawyer basic for the North Dakota Legal professional Common’s Workplace, representing and advising state businesses in employment regulation issues.

He has bachelor’s levels in human useful resource administration and enterprise administration from Dickinson State College and a regulation diploma from the College of North Dakota.

He was within the North Dakota Nationwide Guard from 2008 to 2016, attaining the rank of sergeant.

“I sit up for constructing on the division’s efforts to leverage expertise and enhance processes to finest serve North Dakotans politely, respect, endurance and empathy,” Svihovec stated in an announcement.

The labor division is chargeable for implementing state labor and human rights legal guidelines. It has a two-year price range of $2.9 million and as much as 13 staff.