Recently enacted legislation (SB 312) requires Nevada employers of 50 or more employees to provide paid leave to their employees. The bill provides that the law is effective January 1, 2020, or upon the state performing any other preparatory administrative tasks necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act. According to the Nevada Labor Commission, the law is effective July 1, 2020.

Under the law, eligible employees do not have to provide employers with the reason for taking the paid leave, giving the employee the ability to use the leave for reasons other than illness. Employers in their first two years of operation are not required to comply with the paid leave law.

Paid sick leave provisions

Effective July 1, 2020, employers with 50 or more employees must provide a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave a year to their employees by allowing them to accrue at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour worked. Employers may choose to "front-load" 40 hours of paid leave at the beginning of each benefit year. Employers are not required to provide paid leave to temporary, seasonal or on-call employees.

Earned paid leave that has not been used can be carried over to the following year, although the employer may limit the amount carried over to 40 hours. An employer may delay new employees' ability to use earned paid leave until they have worked for the employer for 90 days.?

The employer must pay employees who are on paid leave on regularly scheduled paydays in an amount equal to what the employee would have earned if the employee had worked the scheduled work time. The employer must provide an accounting of the hours of paid leave available for use each payday.?

When there is a separation from employment and the employee is rehired within 90 days of separation by the same employer, and the reason for termination was not a voluntary quit, previously accrued unused earned leave must be reinstated.

Employers may not: (1) deny an employee the right to use their accrued paid leave; (2) require as a condition of using earned paid leave that the employee find a replacement worker; or (3) retaliate against employees for using their earned paid leave.

The Nevada Labor Commission has published a bulletin on its website that employers are required to post in a conspicuous location in each workplace maintained by the employer. The Rules to be Observed by Employers poster has also been updated.

The Labor Commissioner may impose an administrative penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation of the paid leave law, in addition to other remedies or penalties as authorized by law.

Ernst and Young LLP insights

Nevada joins Maine (LD 369, Chapter 156, effective 1-1-2021) in enacting a paid leave law that does not allow the employer to require the leave be used for illnesses.

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