The Nevada Labor Law Guide

Minimum wage is the lowest hourly pay rate that employers are legally obligated to pay employees. While the federal minimum wage serves as a baseline, different states, cities, and regions can adopt their own higher rates.

The current statewide rate is: $12.00 per hour for all covered employees. 

• Compliance note: Following a constitutional amendment, Nevada permanently eliminated its two-tier minimum wage system. Employers can no longer legally pay a lower minimum wage rate to employees who are offered qualifying employer-sponsored health benefits. The $12.00 rate is a strict baseline for all workers.

Local jurisdictions 

In Nevada, the minimum wage is set uniformly at the state level. Local cities and municipalities do not establish their own separate, higher minimum wage rates. Therefore, the $12.00 rate applies identically across all covered employers in the state.

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Nevada law strictly prohibits employers from taking a "tip credit" against an employee's wages. Therefore, there is no separate or lower minimum wage for tipped employees in the state.

All tipped employees (such as restaurant servers, bartenders, and casino staff) must be paid the full, standard state minimum wage (currently a flat rate of $12.00 per hour as of 2026) directly by the employer, before any tips are factored in. All tips earned belong entirely to the employee and cannot be used to offset or reduce the employer's minimum wage obligation.

In Nevada, non-exempt employees who work over 8 hours in a rolling workday are entitled to overtime pay. Most employees receive overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek.

Nevada enforces a highly unique overtime system where an employee's eligibility for daily overtime depends entirely on their hourly wage.

Weekly overtime (all non-exempt employees)

• All covered, non-exempt employees must be paid overtime at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 within a single workweek.

Daily overtime (the $18.00 threshold)

• Nevada requires daily overtime, but only for employees who earn less than 1.5 times the state minimum wage.

• Because the current state minimum wage is $12.00 per hour, any employee earning less than $18.00 per hour must be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any hours worked over 8 in a rolling 24-hour period (which begins the moment the employee clocks in).

• Employees earning $18.00 per hour or more are strictly exempt from this daily overtime rule and are only subject to the standard 40-hour weekly threshold.

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Paid Time Off (PTO) / Paid leave for any reason 

Nevada is one of the few U.S. states that mandates a general paid time off (PTO) policy for private employers, rather than a specific sick leave law.

Under Senate Bill 312, private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada must provide paid leave that employees can use for any reason (including vacation, sick time, or personal errands).

• Accrual rate: employees must earn at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for every hour worked (which equals approximately 40 hours per year for a full-time employee).

• Caps and payouts: employers may cap both the accrual and annual usage at 40 hours. Additionally, employers are not legally required to pay out unused accrued leave upon an employee's termination. 

  • Compliance note: New businesses are exempt from this requirement during their first two years of operation.

Paid sick leave 

Because Nevada’s mandatory paid leave can be used for any reason, the state does not have a separate paid sick leave mandate for private employers. Fulfilling the 0.01923 PTO accrual rate satisfies the state's health and wellness leave requirements.

• Compliance note: of an employer is exempt from the mandate but chooses to offer a dedicated "sick leave" policy anyway, Nevada law requires them to allow employees to use up to half of their accrued sick time to care for immediate family members. Furthermore, covered employers must still comply with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for eligible employees at businesses with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

Holidays 

Nevada state law does not require private employers to provide paid holidays, unpaid holiday leave, or premium pay for working on a holiday. An employer can legally require employees to work on holidays at their standard rate of pay.

While not mandated for private businesses, Nevada observes the following 12 state holidays:

• New Year’s Day

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

• President's Day

• Memorial Day

• Juneteenth

• Independence Day

• Labor Day

• Nevada Day (Last Friday in October)

• Veterans Day

• Thanksgiving Day

• Family Day (Day after Thanksgiving)

• Christmas Day

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Nevada’s child labor laws were updated significantly in 2025 (AB 215). Employers must comply with both these state rules and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Minors under age 14

• Cannot be employed in any business or service without written permission from a district court judge in the county where they reside.

Minors 14–15 years old

• Permits: No work permit or court permission is required for this age group.

• School day hours: Cannot work more than 3 hours on a school day.

• Non-school day hours: Maximum of 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week (State law was reduced from 48 to 40 hours in 2025).

• Curfew: Under federal FLSA, these minors cannot work between 7 PM and 7 AM (extended to 9 PM from June 1st to Labor Day).

• Prohibited jobs: Banned from manufacturing, mining, laundry establishments, or any workplace where goods are processed.

Minors 16–17 years old

• Hours: Generally unlimited hours, except for a specific School-Night Curfew: Unemancipated minors enrolled in high school cannot work between 11 PM and 6 AM on a night preceding a school day.

• Prohibited jobs: While they can work in most industries, they are strictly prohibited from "Hazardous Occupations," including roofing, excavation, or operating power-driven saws and meat slicers.

Note for entertainment Industry 

Minors of any age performing in motion pictures are largely exempt from standard hour restrictions, though specific "Coogan Account" earnings reserves may apply to their contracts).