Articles About Nevada Labor And Employment Law.

The Office of the Nevada Labor Commissioner has issued formal guidance regarding employees’ rights to use—and employers’ obligations to provide—mandatory paid leave in light of COVID-19. Specifically, the guidance addresses whether employers may require employees to use any paid leave hours they may have accrued under Nevada’s recently enacted paid leave law (Senate Bill No. 312) if they are unable to report for work as a result of a mandatory government quarantine.

The Nevada Labor Commissioner issued two advisory opinions concerning Senate Bill (SB) 312, which, effective January 1, 2020, requires private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada to provide paid leave that employees can use for any reason. SB 312 left several significant questions unanswered. In the advisory opinions, the Labor Commissioner addresses some of these issues, based on the state labor department’s understanding of “the plain and unambiguous language of the bill and the intent of the Legislative Sponsors.” Below we summarize important clarifications the Labor Commissioner’s formal guidance provides.

The California Consumer Privacy Act takes effect January 1, 2020. Businesses within the scope of the CCPA are taking steps to prepare, including drafting notices to inform California consumers of their right to opt out of the sale of their personal information. However, California will not be the first state to provide a consumer with the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information.

The Nevada Legislature had a busy 80th session in 2019, enacting a vast array of new laws affecting employers. Some highlights of this year’s session are new Nevada laws expanding remedies available for employment discrimination claims, expanding mandatory occupational safety training to employees involved in conventions and trade shows, codifying the definition of “health benefits” under the Minimum Wage Amendment Act, increasing the minimum wage, requiring annual paid leave for employees, redefining disclosure agreements regarding sex discrimination or sexual offenses settlements, and providing legal protections for applicants and employees with positive marijuana test results. This article will briefly discuss additional key labor and employment laws enacted this session that are in effect or will become effective in the State of Nevada.

The Nevada Legislature’s 80th session recently came to a close after a flurry of activity resulted in over 25 new laws affecting employers. Now, the Nevada Labor Commissioner, charged with enacting and/or amending regulations interpreting the new laws (through the Nevada Administrative Code or NAC), is inviting public comments on a few of the newly enacted laws.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect January 1, 2020, is considered the most robust state privacy law in the United States. The CCPA seems to have spurred a flood of similar legislative proposals on the state level, and started a shift in the consumer privacy law landscape. Many of these proposals end up dying somewhere along the rigorous legislative process, but in the last few weeks both Maine and Nevada signed into law bills that, although much more narrow than the CCPA, certainly bear resemblance.

Beginning January 1, 2020, new legislation in Nevada will require employers to think carefully about whether and which applicants should be tested for marijuana. Under A.B. 132, employers are generally prohibited from withholding a job offer because a candidate tests positive for marijuana use. Marijuana testing limitations will also apply to testing of employees within their first 30 days of employment. As detailed below, the law does not apply to certain types of positions. Nevada employers with current marijuana testing programs, and those considering implementation of marijuana testing, will be faced with a number of strategy and policy decisions as they prepare to comply with the new law.1

Under a new Nevada law, effective July 1, 2019, employers that settle certain allegations involving sex discrimination or sexual offenses will not be able to bar the claimant from talking about the existence of the settlement, or the facts and circumstances giving rise to the claim.

The Nevada Legislature and Nevada Supreme Court have not always seen eye-to-eye in the interpretation of noncompetition covenants. Historically, the two bodies have parried back and forth in trying to decide where Nevada will draw the line in enforcing restrictive covenants.1 In many cases, the Nevada Supreme Court opted for a strict stance and invalidated noncompetition agreements the court viewed as overly broad. In response, the Nevada legislature pushed back with a mandate that the court should broadly modify, or “blue-pencil,” these agreements to make them enforceable. Despite these efforts, this conflict and the overall discretionary nature of injunctive relief enforcement continue to create challenges in drafting strongly reliable noncompetition agreements in Nevada.

In 2006, Nevada’s Constitution was amended to establish a two-tier minimum wage system dependent upon whether an employer provides “health benefits” to its employees.

This week, Governor Steve Sisolak signed a law requiring private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada to provide 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour an employee works. Employees must be permitted to use up to forty hours of available paid leave “without providing a reason to his or her employer.” Nevada’s paid leave law is similar to the new paid leave law in Maine that requires employers provide paid leave that employees can use for any reason. New York City Council is reportedly considering similar legislation that would require paid personal time in addition to the safe/sick time that many employees are already entitled to. Nevada’s law takes effect on January 1, 2020 and Maine’s law takes effect on January 1, 2021.

Nevada’s minimum wage will increase to $12.00 per hour (or $11.00 for employees offered health insurance) by mid-2024, based on a new bill signed into law by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak. Beginning July 1, 2020, Nevada’s current minimum wage rates of $8.25 (without health insurance) and $7.25 (with health insurance) will increase by $0.75 to $9.00 and $8.00 respectively per hour, and will increase annually at that same rate until reaching $12.00 (or $11.00) per hour on July 1, 2024.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has announced his intent to sign Senate Bill No. 312, which will require, for the first time, that Nevada private-sector employers provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid leave per benefit year. Although originally styled as “sick leave” legislation, the final bill as enrolled requires that paid leave be made available to employees to be used for any reason. With limited exceptions, employers with 50 or more employees must provide paid leave to their employees in proportion to the number of hours worked. The bill makes no exception for part-time employees. The legislation becomes effective on January 1, 2020.

On May 21, 2019, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed a bill that seeks to clarify what type of health benefits an employer must provide in order to pay its employees the lower-tier minimum wage under the Minimum Wage Amendment (MWA) Act. The enactment of Senate Bill No. 192 appears to be in response to a Nevada Supreme Court decision issued last year that addressed this issue. Although the new law effectively overrules the court decision and codifies a new standard, questions about the range of new benefits that must be provided to qualify as “health benefits” and their resulting cost will likely remain.