12.4 Nevada & Federal Labor Laws: Minimum Wage, Overtime, Final Pay & Paid Leave

Why Labor Law Is on the CMS

Labor Laws is a 5-item subject on the Contractor Management Survey. The questions test the Nevada wage-and-hour rules in NRS Chapter 608, enforced by the Office of the Labor Commissioner, plus the federal rules every employer must follow. A contractor who gets these wrong faces back wages, waiting-time penalties, administrative fines, and Board discipline.

Nevada Minimum Wage

• Rate: $12.00 per hour for all employees since July 1, 2024. Ballot Question 2 (2022) amended the Nevada Constitution and ended the old two-tier system, which had allowed a lower rate when the employer offered health benefits. The Labor Commissioner's 2026 bulletin keeps the rate at $12.00. The federal minimum ($7.25) is lower, so Nevada's rate controls.
• No tip credit: Nevada does not let employers count tips toward the minimum wage.
• Penalties (NRS 608.290): Paying less than the minimum wage is a misdemeanor, and the Labor Commissioner may add an administrative penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.

Overtime (NRS 608.018)

Nevada has two overtime triggers:

1. Weekly: time and a half for hours over 40 in a scheduled workweek, for all non-exempt employees.
2. Daily: time and a half for hours over 8 in a workday, but only for employees paid less than 1.5 times the minimum wage, which is $18.00 per hour. The Labor Commissioner's bulletin applies this to work over 8 hours in a 24-hour period.

The 4/10 exception: Daily overtime does not apply when the employer and employee mutually agree to a scheduled four 10-hour days in the workweek.

Common exemptions in NRS 608.018(3):

• Bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees.
• Employees under a collective bargaining agreement that provides otherwise for overtime.
• Employees of businesses with gross sales under $250,000 a year. The federal FLSA may still require weekly overtime for these workers.
• Workers on public works, whose overtime is set by NRS 338.020 instead.

Worked example: A laborer earns $16.00 per hour and works 10 hours on each of four days, for 40 hours total.

• No 4/10 agreement: Each day has 2 hours over 8, so 8 daily-overtime hours. Pay is $32 \times \text{\textdollar}16.00 + 8 \times \text{\textdollar}24.00 = \text{\textdollar}512 + \text{\textdollar}192 = \text{\textdollar}704$.
• With a mutual 4/10 agreement: No daily overtime and no weekly overtime. Pay is $40 \times \text{\textdollar}16.00 = \text{\textdollar}640$.
• A carpenter at $20.00 per hour on the same schedule is above $18.00, so only the weekly rule applies. With exactly 40 hours, there is no overtime, and pay is $800.

Meal and Rest Periods (NRS 608.019)

• Meal: An employee may not work a continuous 8 hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes. A break shorter than 30 minutes does not interrupt the continuous period.
• Rest: Paid rest of 10 minutes for each 4 hours worked, or major fraction, taken near the middle of each work period where practicable. Rest breaks are not required when the total daily work time is under 3-1/2 hours.
• Exceptions: The rule does not apply where only one person is employed at the place of employment, or to employees under a collective bargaining agreement. The Labor Commissioner may also grant business-necessity exemptions.

Paydays and Final Pay

• Semimonthly pay (NRS 608.060): Private-sector wages are due at least twice a month. Wages earned from the 1st through the 15th are due by 8 a.m. on the last day of the same month. Wages earned from the 16th to the end of the month are due by 8 a.m. on the 15th of the next month. Paying more often is allowed.
• Discharge (NRS 608.020): Wages are due immediately when an employee is fired or placed on a nonworking status (a temporary layoff with possible callback).
• Resignation (NRS 608.030): Wages are due by the earlier of the employee's regular payday or 7 days after quitting.
• Waiting-time penalty (NRS 608.040): If a fired employee is not paid within 3 days after wages are due, or a quitting employee is not paid on the due date, the employee's wages continue at the same daily rate until paid, for up to 30 days.

Example: A finisher earning $200 per day is fired on Monday, and the employer pays the final check 13 days later. Wages were due immediately, and the 3-day grace period has passed. The employee can claim up to 30 days of continued wages, here roughly 13 days × $200, or about $2,600, on top of the wages owed.

Records and Paid Leave

• Payroll records (NRS 608.115): For each pay period, record gross wages, deductions, net pay, hours worked each day, and the date paid. Give the information to an employee within 10 days of a request, and keep records for 2 years.
• Paid leave (NRS 608.0197): Private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada must provide at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave per hour worked. That is $2,080 \times 0.01923 \approx 40$ hours for a full-time year. Employees may use it for any reason starting on the 90th calendar day of employment. Employers may cap carryover at 40 hours per benefit year. New businesses are exempt for their first 2 years, and temporary, seasonal, and on-call employees are excluded.

Misclassification and Subcontractor Labor

• Independent contractor test (NRS 608.0155): A worker is conclusively presumed to be an independent contractor only if every element of the statutory test is met (see Section 4.3).
• Willful misclassification (NRS 608.400): The first offense draws a warning. A second or later offense brings a fine of $5,000 for each employee willfully misclassified.
• Original contractor liability (NRS 608.150): The original contractor assumes and is liable for the labor debts of its subcontractors on the job, and for their industrial insurance obligations under NRS 616A to 617. Get lien releases and certified payroll from subcontractors before paying them.

Federal Rules Every Nevada Contractor Follows

• FLSA: Federal minimum wage, weekly overtime over 40 hours, and recordkeeping. Where federal and Nevada rules differ, follow the one more protective of the worker.
• Child labor: Children aged 14 and 15 may not work in construction except in office or sales roles. Workers under 18 are barred from hazardous jobs, including roofing, trenching and excavation, and most power-driven woodworking machines (the federal Hazardous Occupations Orders).
• Form I-9: The employee completes Section 1 by the first day of work. The employer completes Section 2 within 3 business days after the start date. Keep the form for 3 years after hire or 1 year after employment ends, whichever is later.
• New-hire reporting: Report each new hire to Nevada's new-hire program within 20 days. The data supports child-support enforcement.
• Davis-Bacon Act: Federally funded construction contracts over $2,000 require federal prevailing wages and weekly certified payrolls. Nevada public works (NRS Chapter 338) have their own prevailing-wage rules (Section 7.3).
• Anti-discrimination: Title VII and the ADA apply to employers with 15 or more employees, and the ADEA to employers with 20 or more. Nevada's NRS 613.330 also covers employers with 15 or more employees.

Required Posters

Display the Labor Commissioner's current minimum-wage and daily-overtime bulletins, plus the required federal and Nevada workplace posters. Post them where employees can see them, including at field offices and jobsite trailers.