A Guide to Understanding Nevada’s Minimum Wage & Overtime Pay Requirements

As an employer, it’s so important to know where your employees are performing their work. While this may have been taken for granted in years past, with more businesses shifting towards remote and hybrid work, it’s gotten trickier to be sure of where your employees are working. Beyond this information being useful for things like time zones and productivity, it also has many compliance and tax impacts for both you and the employee.

So if you’ve got employees working in Nevada, know that there are specific laws regarding wage requirements. These laws address the minimum wage requirements, overtime pay, and meal and rest breaks, among other requirements. When hiring new employees in Nevada, or when auditing your pay practices, keep these basics top of mind to be sure you’re complying with Nevada’s wage and hour laws.

In this article, we'll provide an overview of some key Nevada wage and hour laws and some compliance tips to help make things as smooth as possible.

Minimum Wage in Nevada

Nevada has minimum wage and overtime requirements that are applicable to most employees and exceed federal requirements. To make things a bit more complicated, Nevada has a two-tier minimum wage system based on whether an employer offers a qualified health benefit plan. In general, if an employer offers an ERISA-governed welfare benefit plan that meets specific requirements, they are able to pay a lower tier minimum wage. All other employers must pay employees a higher minimum wage rate.

Annual increases to Nevada’s minimum wage typically go into effect on July 1, and are recorded on a bulletin by the Office of the Labor Commissioner. These rates will incrementally increase every year through 2024, as outlined by Assembly Bill 456 and as illustrated in the 2022 annual bulletin.

Employers should note that effective July 1, 2024, Nevada will move away from this two-tier minimum wage system in favor of a single minimum wage standard for all employers. This rate, set at $12/hour (subject to any applicable increases), will apply regardless of whether or not the employer offers qualified health benefits to their employees.

Overtime Laws in Nevada

Overtime laws dictate how much employees must be paid for time worked that extends beyond regular working hours. If an employee is not considered exempt from overtime requirements, they will be entitled to additional pay for all hours that qualify as overtime. This is true regardless of whether or not the overtime hours were authorized or approved.

In Nevada, overtime must generally be paid at a rate of 1.5x the employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.

In addition to this requirement, there are certain employees who are eligible for daily overtime pay at 1.5x their regular rate of pay. This applies to employees who, for their regular rate of pay, make less than 1.5x the applicable minimum wage.

As an example, if you're an employer who offers qualifying health benefits, and your nonexempt employee earns an hourly rate that's greater than 1.5x the lower tier minimum wage, they will be eligible for overtime only if they work an excess of 40 hours in a given week. If that same employee makes less than 1.5x the lower tier, they will then be entitled to overtime if they work an excess of 8 hours within a 24-hour period.

Meal and Rest Breaks in Nevada

Nevada also has meal and rest break requirements for employees. These laws are designed to protect employee health and safety by ensuring that workers have time to take breaks during their shifts.

If your employee works a shift that lasts 8 hours, they must be given an uninterrupted duty-free 30-minute meal break during that shift. This break may be unpaid. For every 4 hours that your employee works, or major fraction thereof, they must also be given an uninterrupted, duty-free paid 10-minute rest break. This means they may be entitled to more than one rest break depending on the total length of their shift.

These requirements are subject to limited exceptions, such as certain situations where there is only one employee present.

From time to time, an employee may voluntarily give up their rest period or meal period, but if they do, note that the employer will have the burden to prove this voluntary agreement.

Finally, if you are an employer with 50 or more employees, you are also covered under Nevada’s requirement to allow reasonable break time for employees to nurse or express breast milk.

Tips for Staying Compliant with Nevada Wage & Hours Laws

As a business owner, it's important to ensure that you are complying with pay requirements and overtime laws. If you fail to comply with overtime laws, you may be subject to litigation, regulatory scrutiny, fines and other penalties. The amount of the fine will depend on the number of employees affected and the severity of the violation.

Want some other tips to help you stay compliant? Here are some things to consider:

• How do employers stay up to date on these laws? As an employer in Nevada, it's important to know the wage laws in the state and make sure you are compliant. To start, the Nevada Department of Business & Industry has an Employer Information page that has resources on many of these topics. We suggest auditing your practices every time there is a change in the requirements, and at least annually. You can also review if anyone’s exemption status has changed based on a promotion or job transfer.

• Do employers need to record employee schedules and the hours they work? Employers should keep accurate records of their employees’ schedules and hours worked. This includes any time spent on work-related tasks, even if they are outside of a regular shift such as events, training sessions and sometimes travel time. A great way to help stay on top of this is to use a software system that makes it easy to track and record hours. Find a trusted software solution that can support this in a seamless and compliant way for your employees.

• How do employers communicate their pay policies? Employers should have a written policy outlining their pay policies. This includes information on overtime deductions, meal and rest breaks, and timekeeping requirements. This will help ensure that employees are aware of their rights and responsibilities, and it will provide a reference point if there are any questions.

• Do employers need to seek legal advice? To ensure compliance with applicable wage and hour requirements, it’s best to consult an employment attorney.

A Helping Hand With Compliance

Nevada's wage laws are designed to protect employees and ensure they are fairly compensated. As a business owner, it's essential to understand the laws and make sure you are compliant. If you have any questions, you should consult with an experienced employment law attorney.

For support with other employment-related compliance tasks, it can be a good idea to partner with a solution like Justworks. Justworks can also provide payroll support, time tracking tools, access to benefits, and more. Learn how Justworks can help you grow with confidence today.