Nevada Paid Time Off

Nevada Paid Time Off

Starting January 1, 2020, Nevada requires employers in the state with 50 or more employees to provide paid time off (PTO) from work. Because employees may use the PTO for any purpose, employers may not require employees to provide a reason. However, employers may establish a policy requiring employees to provide reasonable notice of their desire to take PTO.

The PTO accrues at the rate of 0.01923 hours of PTO for each hour worked, which equals one hour of PTO for each 52 hours worked. Employers in their first two years of operation are exempt from the requirement. Temporary, seasonal, and on-call employees (as defined in the Nevada State Labor Commissioner’s published advisory opinion) are excluded from the law. Although there is no cap on how many PTO hours an employee may accrue, employers may limit PTO “usage” to 40 hours per benefit year and may require employees to wait 90 days from the start of employment before they can use any PTO.

Employers may set a minimum increment of PTO that an employee must use each time, which may not exceed four hours. Accrued, unused hours of PTO must be carried over to the next year, but employers may limit the carryover to 40 hours. Alternatively, employers may utilize what is called the “frontloading” method in which 40 hours of PTO are given to the employee at the start of each year, instead of accruing PTO as the employee works. This method obviates the need to track accrual, but employers must still track usage.

Nevada PTO need not be paid out to employees at the end of their employment. And a collective bargaining agreement or an employer’s existing time off policy may provide for better PTO benefits than the minimum required by Nevada law, but it may not provide less. Employers must inform employees of their available balance of Nevada PTO on each payday. To alleviate this burden from clients, EP will track Nevada PTO for each client’s Nevada employees when payrolled through EP. Paystubs also will show the employee’s available Nevada PTO balance.

Violation of these requirements is considered a misdemeanor, and the Nevada State Labor Commissioner may impose an administrative penalty of $5,000 for each violation, in addition to other remedies and/or penalties.