Payroll and Benefits Guide United States – Nevada

Employer

Employer Payroll Contributions

Employee

Employee Payroll Contributions

Employee

Employee Income Tax

General

The minimum wage in Nevada 10.25 USD per hour for employers that provide qualifying health benefits and 11.25 USD per hour for those that do not.

In 2022, Nevada passed a ballot measure that establishes a 12.00 USD minimum wage, effective July 1, 2024 regardless of health benefits offered.

Payroll Cycle

Employees are paid monthly or semi-monthly.

13th Salary

There are no provisions in the law regarding 13th salaries.

General

In Nevada, the workweek is a maximum of 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day.

Employers in Nevada must provide break periods of at least 30 minutes for minors aged between 14 and 17 who work five or more consecutive hours and continue to work. Employers are not required to give breaks to employees aged 18 and over. The break is unpaid when it is more than 20 minutes and paid when it is less than this.  This does not apply to meals or lunch breaks.

Overtime

Nevada adheres to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and work in excess of 40 hours per week is considered overtime and paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay. If employees are scheduled to work on weekends or rest days, no additional payment is required.

However, should an employer request an employee to work in exceptional circumstances on these days, then overtime is paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay.

Working Week

Monday-Friday

Paid Time Off

Nevada does not have any state laws that govern the amount and payment of vacation time, however, it is common for employers to decide whether to offer paid or unpaid vacation leave.  This must comply with employment law and must be stipulated in the collective bargaining agreements.

Public Holidays

There are 11 official holidays, however, private employers are not required to provide either time off or overtime pay on these days.

Sick Days

It is common for an employer to follow the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for certain family and medical reasons (maternity leave, serious illnesses, or if the employee needs to care for a spouse or child).

Employees are eligible for FMLA if they have worked for their employer for at least one year, completed a minimum of 1,250 hours over the past year, and worked at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

FMLA eligible employees are entitled to:

• 12 working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.
• The employee may be entitled to leave for the adoption or foster care of a child and care for the newly placed child within one year of placement.
• To care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a severe health condition.
• A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of their job.
• Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty.”

Or

• 26 working weeks of leave during a single one-year period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

In addition to the FMLA, employers with 50 or more employees must provide paid sick leave to all covered employees, providing at least 0.01923 hours of leave per hour worked, capped at 40 hours annually.

Employees are allowed to use a maximum of 40 hours of sick leave, and all sickness absence needs to be validated with a certificate from a medical professional.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave falls under the FMLA (see Sick Leave).

In addition to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Nevada has the Nevada Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide employees with reasonable leave due to conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. This applies to each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

The Nevada Fair Employment Practices (FEP) Protects against discrimination based on sex.

The act also states that if an employer grants leave with or without pay or leave without loss of seniority to employees for sickness or disability because of a medical condition, it is unlawful to fail or refuse to extend the same benefits to any female employee for a condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

The covered employee must be allowed to use the leave before and after childbirth, miscarriage, or any other natural resolution of her pregnancy, if the leave is granted, accumulated, or accrued as part of her employment benefits (NV Rev. Stat. Sec. 613.335).

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave falls under the FMLA  (see Sick Leave).

Parental Leave

Parental leave falls under the FMLA  (see Sick Leave).

Other Leave

• Jury Duty: Nevada law states that an employer may not terminate or threaten to terminate an employee for serving as a juror or prospective juror. An employee is not required to use any other type of leave to cover jury duty. In addition, an employer may not require an employee to work within the eight hours before the employee is to appear for jury duty, and an employee who served for four or more hours in a day cannot be required to work between 5 p.m. that day and 3 a.m. the following day. All employers are to provide their full-time employees with job-protected paid time off to perform their duty as jurors. Employees must provide a copy of the jury summons to the employer as evidence of requirement.
• Voting Leave: Nevada law has a requirement to allow adequate time to an employee to enable them to vote, as follows:
  • 1 hour if the polling station is 2 miles or less from the employee’s workplace
  • 2 hours if the polling station is more than 2 miles but not more than 10 miles from the employee’s workplace
  • 3 hours if the polling station is more than 10 miles from the employee’s workplace

In addition to the federal law USERRA, Nevada law provides protection against discrimination for members of U.S. armed forces, reserves, National Guard, commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons designated by the president in a time of war or emergency.  Reemployment in a former or a similar position regarding seniority, status, pay, and other employment benefits may be offered by an employer.

Termination Process

Except in mass dismissals or as provided for in an employment contract or a collective bargaining agreement, U.S. law does not impose a formal notice period to terminate an individual employment relationship, and employment is stipulated “at will.”

This means that either the employer or the employee may end the employment relationship without giving either notice or reason, provided it is not illegal, notable discrimination on the grounds of a category protected by law, etc., and as per the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).

The employment contracts of executives and other highly skilled individuals often incorporate a “just cause termination” clause which mandates that the employer may only terminate the employee for “cause” and lists the permissible grounds. In such cases, the parties negotiate the foundations for a “just cause” termination.

Notice Period

In Nevada, most employees are employed “at-will,” and either party can terminate the employment relationship without notice. In Nevada, payout of unused vacation time is not required, however, it is common to do so provided that the employee gives some advanced notice of resignation. There is no official notice period but general practice is 2 weeks.

In mass dismissal cases the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) must be followed, and employers must give 60 days’ notice to impacted employees.

Severance Pay

Except as otherwise provided in an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, are not required to pay severance.  Many employers choose to offer severance based on the length of employment.

If the employer terminates the contract, the final payment must be made to the employee within 3 working days after the termination. If the employee terminates the contract, the employer will make the final payment per the agreement in the contract—usually the next regular payday.

Probation Period

There are no provisions in the law regarding trial or probation periods. However, it is common practice for employers to set a performance evaluation after an initially stated period of employment of 90 days.

VISA

Foreign nationals without permanent resident status or a work visa are not permitted to work in the United States. An employer seeking to hire a foreign national may file a petition with the United States Department of Homeland Security or the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for an employment visa on behalf of the prospective employee.

If the petition is approved, the prospective employee must obtain a visa stamp from a United States embassy or consulate (Canadian citizens are exempt from this requirement).  To get a temporary U.S. work visa, an employer must file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). An approved petition must be part of the visa request.

The types of visas include:

• H-1B: For applicants with a college degree hired to do specialized work. The visa is valid for three years and can be extended for an additional three years. The visa is connected to the employer that filed the petition. If there is a change of employer, the new employer must repeat the process. There are 65,000 H-1B visas available each year.
• H-1B1: For applicants with a college degree from Chile and Singapore. The US government grants up to 1,400 visas to Chilean citizens and 5,400 from Singapore each year.
• H-2A:  For temporary or seasonal agriculture work. It is limited to citizens of qualified countries. Usually valid for up to 1 year and can be extended to a maximum of 3 years.
• H-2B: For temporary non-agricultural work. These visas are limited to citizens of qualified countries. Usually valid for up to 1 year and can be extended to a maximum of 3 years.
• L: For intercompany transfers (people transferred from a foreign company to a US branch of the company). The applicant must have been employed at the company for a year before the transfer and work in a managerial level position or higher with specialized knowledge.
• O: For people with extraordinary abilities in science, arts, education, business, or athletics.

The standard procedure is to obtain a short-term work visa and then apply for an immigrant visa after the employee has started working in the United States.

For those seeking employment-based immigrant visas:

• E-1: Highest priority employment for those with extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, business, and athletics
• E-2: For those with advanced degrees or exceptional ability
• E-3: For skilled workers and professionals, as well as unskilled workers
• E-4: Members of certain immigrant groups
• E-5: Immigrant investors in US companies (substantial investment)

Alternatively, an employer may sponsor a potential employee’s application for permanent resident status, referred to as a “green card” if the employee can establish that the potential employee is a multinational executive or manager transferee, has unique skills, or has been offered a job in the United States.

The employer must have been unable to recruit a U.S. worker who meets the position’s minimum requirements.

All employers are obligated to verify that all individuals they employ are authorized to work in the United States.

General

Nevada has a minimum combined sales tax rate of 7.948% (state tax is 4.6% and average local tax is 3.366%).