July 1, 2024, marks the end of Nevada's two-tiered, annually increased, minimum wage. Effective July 1, 2024, the Nevada minimum wage will increase to $12.00 per hour, regardless of the whether the employer offers employees qualifying health benefits. The July 1, 2024, wage increase is the culmination of Ballot Question 2 from the November 2022 election, in which Nevada voters approved the state's return to a single minimum wage, set at $12.00 per hour. Ballot Question 2—which is now codified at Art. 15 § 16 of the Nevada Constitution—puts an end to Nevada's former two-tiered minimum wage, which allowed employers to pay a lower minimum wage if they offered employees qualifying health benefits. The July 1, 2024, wage increase also closes the book on Nevada's automatic annual minimum wage increases, which went into effect every July 1 from 2019 through 2024.
The upcoming wage increase will also affect employee eligibility for a daily overtime premium under Nevada's unique daily overtime scheme. Under Nevada law, unless expressly exempted from daily overtime by NRS 608.018(3), all nonexempt hourly employees who earn less than 150% of the minimum wage qualify for overtime premium pay equal to one and one-half times their hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of eight hours in any workday. "Workday" is defined as a continuous 24-hour period and not merely a calendar day. Thus, in addition to raising the applicable minimum wage for nonexempt hourly employees, the July 1, 2024, wage also increases the minimum rate of pay necessary to exclude an employee from daily overtime to $18.00 per hour. The wage increase will not affect employees' entitlement to traditional weekly overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a given workweek.1
Overall, the July 1 wage increase will provide employers certainty on the Nevada minimum wage, which will no longer be subject to automatic increases year over year. The increased minimum wage will affect which employees are entitled to a daily overtime premium under Nevada's unique daily overtime statutory scheme, however.
Littler will continue monitoring these issues and will report any significant changes. Click here for more information on upcoming minimum wage increases in other jurisdictions.
Footnote
1 Please note that the U.S. Department of Labor released a final rule to update the salary level for overtime eligibility on April 23, 2024, which significantly increases the salary threshold to qualify for an overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed final rule is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2024, and will increase the minimum salary from $684 per week (about $35,568 per year) to $1,059 per week (about $55,068 per year). The final rule has been challenged in two separate court actions. But its implementation would affect which employees may be classified as exempt for purposes of overtime. Click here for more information about the final rule.
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