Recent Labor Law Changes in Nevada

The Silver State has released a slew of changes to its labor law notices, including updates to the Annual Minimum Wage Bulletin for 2019 and the Rules to Be Observed by Employers notice. Plus, two brand-new notices have been issued:  Notice to Employer that Employee is Sick or Sustained Injury and Paid Leave. Our customers in Nevada are required to display new posters in their places of business.

Below we’ve provided a breakdown of each of these changes.

2019 Annual Minimum Wage Bulletin

Current and Future Minimum Wage Rates

Nevada’s new minimum wage law, effective July 1, 2019, calls for stepped increases through July 1, 2024. However, the current minimum wage rates of $7.25 (for employees who are offered health benefits) and $8.25 (for all other employees) will remain in effect until June 30, 2020.

On the updated Minimum Wage Bulletin, which has a new posting date of July 1, 2019, the two minimum wage rates are referred to as lower tier and higher tier.

Effective July 1, 2020, the minimum wage will be:

  • $8.00 per hour for employees who have been offered health benefits.
  • $9.00 per hour for all other employees.

Rules to Be Observed by Employers

The next updated notice spells  out certain new rights for employees.

Rest Periods

Employees have the right to take a rest period in the middle of each work period, or as near the middle as possible.

Sleeping Periods

If an employer and employee agree in writing, the employer may exclude from the employee’s wages a regularly scheduled sleeping period of up to 8 hours, if adequate sleeping facilities are furnished.

Wage Deductions

Any deductions by an employer from an employee’s wages must now be agreed upon by both parties in writing, and the purpose, pay period, and amount must be denoted.

Notice to Employer that Employee is Sick or Sustained Injury

This new notice states that beginning May 15, 2019, as required by Assembly Bill 181, employees can no longer be required to come into work to notify their employer that they are unable to work due to an illness or injury unrelated to work. However, employers can still require employees to notify them by some other means if they are sick or injured and unable to report for work.

Paid Leave

Effective January 1, 2020, based on the passage of Senate Bill 312, private employers with 50 or more employees must provide paid leave to all employees. On their 90th day of employment, employees are eligible to begin using leave, and they may carry over up to 40 hours of paid leave per benefit year.

Among other requirements described in this new notice, employers must keep records of employees’ accrual and use of paid leave for 1 year and must make those records available for inspection by the Labor Commissioner.

In addition, employers may not deny an employee the right to use available paid leave or retaliate against an employee for using paid leave.

Compliance Made Easy!

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan, so that you will automatically receive the updated Nevada poster as soon as it is available. And because we provide free poster updates for mandatory changes—no matter how many occur during the plan year—you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep your business in compliance.