AB179 - Revises provisions relating to employment. (BDR 53-623)

A.B. 179 - *AB179* ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 179–ASSEMBLYMEMBER LA RUE HATCH PREFILED FEBRUARY 2, 2025 ____________ Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to employment. (BDR 53-623) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No. Effect on the State: No. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to employment; eliminating certain exceptions to provisions requiring an employer in private employment to provide paid leave to each employee of the employer under certain circumstances; setting forth certain actions that constitute retaliation for the purposes of provisions prohibiting retaliation against an employee for use of such paid leave; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: With certain exceptions, existing law requires an employer in private 1 employment who has 50 or more employees in this State to provide to an employee 2 at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour worked. Existing law requires 3 such an employer to allow an employee to use the paid leave beginning on the 90th 4 calendar day of his or her employment and for any use. Existing law prohibits such 5 an employer from retaliating against an employee for using the paid leave available 6 for use by the employee. (NRS 608.0197) This bill eliminates an exception from 7 those provisions that is provided under existing law to an employer who, pursuant 8 to a contract, policy, collective bargaining agreement or other agreement, provides 9 employees with a policy for paid leave or a policy for paid time off to all scheduled 10 employees at a rate of at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave per hour of work 11 performed. Additionally, this bill sets forth certain actions that constitute prohibited 12 retaliation for the purposes of the provisions prohibiting an employer from 13 retaliating against an employee for the use of paid leave. 14 – 2 – - *AB179* THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 608.0197 is hereby amended to read as 1 follows: 2 608.0197 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, 3 every employer in private employment shall provide paid leave to 4 each employee of the employer as follows: 5 (a) An employee is entitled to at least 0.01923 hours of paid 6 leave for each hour of work performed. 7 (b) An employee may, as determined by the employer, obtain 8 paid leave by: 9 (1) Receiving on the first day of each benefit year the total 10 number of hours of paid leave that the employee is entitled to accrue 11 in a benefit year pursuant to paragraph (a); or 12 (2) Accruing over the course of a benefit year the total 13 number of hours of paid leave that the employee is entitled to accrue 14 in a benefit year pursuant to paragraph (a). 15 (c) Paid leave accrued pursuant to subparagraph (2) of paragraph 16 (b) may carry over for each employee between his or her benefit 17 years of employment, except an employer may limit the amount of 18 paid leave for each employee carried over to a maximum of 40 19 hours per benefit year. 20 (d) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (i), an employer 21 shall: 22 (1) Compensate an employee for the paid leave available for 23 use by that employee at the rate of pay at which the employee is 24 compensated at the time such leave is taken, as calculated pursuant 25 to paragraph (e); and 26 (2) Pay such compensation on the same payday as the hours 27 taken are normally paid. 28 (e) For the purposes of determining the rate of pay at which an 29 employee is compensated pursuant to paragraph (d), the 30 compensation rate for an employee who is paid by: 31 (1) Salary, commission, piece rate or a method other than 32 hourly wage must: 33 (I) Be calculated by dividing the total wages of the 34 employee paid for the immediately preceding 90 days by the 35 number of hours worked during that period; 36 (II) Except as otherwise provided in sub-subparagraph 37 (III), include any bonuses agreed upon and earned by the employee; 38 and 39 (III) Not include any bonuses awarded at the sole 40 discretion of the employer, overtime pay, additional pay for 41 – 3 – - *AB179* performing hazardous duties, holiday pay or tips earned by the 1 employee. 2 (2) Hourly wage must be calculated by the hourly rate the 3 employee is paid by the employer. 4 (f) An employer may limit the amount of paid leave an 5 employee uses to 40 hours per benefit year. 6 (g) An employer may set a minimum increment of paid leave, 7 not to exceed 4 hours, that an employee may use at any one time. 8 (h) An employer shall provide to each employee on each payday 9 an accounting of the hours of paid leave available for use by that 10 employee. An employer may use the system that the employer uses 11 to pay its employees to provide the accounting of the hours of paid 12 leave available for use by the employee. 13 (i) An employer may, but is not required to, compensate an 14 employee for any unused paid leave available for use by that 15 employee upon separation from employment, except if the employee 16 is rehired by the employer within 90 days after separation from that 17 employer and the separation from employment was not due to the 18 employee voluntarily leaving his or her employment, any previously 19 unused paid leave hours available for use by that employee must be 20 reinstated. 21 2. An employee in private employment may use paid leave 22 available for use by that employee as follows: 23 (a) An employer shall allow an employee to use paid leave 24 beginning on the 90th calendar day of his or her employment. 25 (b) An employer shall allow an employee to use paid leave for 26 any use, including, without limitation: 27 (1) Treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health 28 condition; 29 (2) Receiving a medical diagnosis or medical care; 30 (3) Receiving or participating in preventative care; 31 (4) Participating in caregiving; or 32 (5) Addressing other personal needs related to the health of 33 the employee. 34 (c) An employee may use paid leave available for use by that 35 employee without providing a reason to his or her employer for such 36 use. 37 (d) An employee shall, as soon as practicable, give notice to his 38 or her employer to use the paid leave available for use by that 39 employee. 40 3. An employer shall not: 41 (a) Deny an employee the right to use paid leave available for 42 use by that employee in accordance with the conditions of this 43 section; 44 – 4 – - *AB179* (b) Require an employee to find a replacement worker as a 1 condition of using paid leave available for use by that employee; or 2 (c) Retaliate against an employee for using paid leave available 3 for use by that employee [.] , including, without limitation, by: 4 (1) Dismissing, demoting or suspending the employee; 5 (2) Issuing a reprimand to the employee; 6 (3) Transferring the employee for the purposes of 7 punishment; 8 (4) Considering, in any way, the employee’s use of paid 9 leave available for use by the employee in a disciplinary action 10 against the employee; or 11 (5) Taking any other adverse action against the employee 12 for using paid leave available for use by the employee. 13 4. The Labor Commissioner shall prepare a bulletin which 14 clearly sets forth the benefits created by this section. The Labor 15 Commissioner shall post the bulletin on the Internet website 16 maintained by the Office of Labor Commissioner, if any, and shall 17 require all employers to post the bulletin in a conspicuous location 18 in each workplace maintained by the employer. The bulletin may be 19 included in any printed abstract posted by the employer pursuant to 20 NRS 608.013. 21 5. An employer shall maintain a record of the receipt or accrual 22 and use of paid leave pursuant to this section for each employee for 23 a 1-year period following the entry of such information in the record 24 and, upon request, shall make those records available for inspection 25 by the Labor Commissioner. 26 6. The provisions of this section do not: 27 (a) Limit or abridge any other rights, remedies or procedures 28 available under the law. 29 (b) Negate any other rights, remedies or procedures available to 30 an aggrieved party. 31 (c) Prohibit, preempt or discourage any contract or other 32 agreement that provides a more generous paid leave benefit or paid 33 time off benefit. 34 7. For the first 2 years of operation, an employer is not required 35 to comply with the provisions of this section. 36 8. This section does not apply to [: 37 (a) An employer who, pursuant to a contract, policy, collective 38 bargaining agreement or other agreement, provides employees with 39 a policy for paid leave or a policy for paid time off to all scheduled 40 employees at a rate of at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave per hour 41 of work performed; and 42 (b) Temporary,] temporary, seasonal or on-call employees. 43 9. As used in this section: 44 – 5 – - *AB179* (a) “Benefit year” means a 365-day period used by an employer 1 when calculating the accrual of paid leave. 2 (b) “Employer” means a private employer who has 50 or more 3 employees in private employment in this State. 4 Sec. 2. Insofar as they conflict with the provisions of such an 5 agreement, the amendatory provisions of this act do not apply 6 during the current term of any contract of employment, collective 7 bargaining agreement or other agreement entered into before 8 October 1, 2025, but do apply to any extension or renewal of such 9 an agreement and to any agreement entered into on or after 10 October 1, 2025. For the purposes of this section, the term of an 11 agreement ends on the date provided in the agreement, 12 notwithstanding any provision of the agreement that it remains in 13 effect, in whole or in part, after that date until a successor agreement 14 becomes effective. 15 H