AB388 - Revises provisions relating to employment. (BDR 23-1027)

- 83rd Session (2025) Assembly Bill No. 388–Assemblymembers La Rue Hatch, González, Anderson, Roth, Miller; Flanagan, Goulding, Hunt, Jackson, Karris, Moore, Orentlicher and Watts Joint Sponsor: Senator Flores CHAPTER.......... AN ACT relating to employment; requiring certain public and private employers to establish certain procedures and forms relating to paid family leave; requiring the Human Resources Commission and Labor Commissioner to establish certain regulations relating to paid family leave; requiring certain public and private employers to provide notice relating to paid family leave; revising provisions relating to paid family leave for certain state employees and employees of private employers; repealing certain provisions relating to leave; providing penalties; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Under existing law, an employee of the Executive Department of the State Government who has been employed for not less than 12 consecutive months is entitled to take 8 weeks of paid family leave over a 12-month period, under certain circumstances, to: (1) bond with a newborn child of the employee or a newborn child of the domestic partner of the employee; (2) bond with a newly adopted child of the employee; (3) recover from or undergo treatment for a serious illness; (4) care for a seriously ill member of the immediate family of the employee; or (5) participate in a qualifying event resulting from the military deployment to a foreign country of an immediate family member of the employee. (NRS 284.356) Section 4 of this bill: (1) provides such entitlements to officers of the Executive Department of the State Government; (2) decreases the time an employee must be employed to receive the entitlement from 12 consecutive months to 90 days; (3) increases the entitlement from 8 weeks to 12 weeks; (4) entitles an employee to take paid family leave to bond with a newly placed foster child of the employee, complete any necessary preparatory tasks before the anticipated adoption of a child or placement of a foster child in certain circumstances, to recover from certain serious health conditions, including pregnancy or the loss or end of a pregnancy and for certain purposes resulting from an act of domestic violence, stalking, aggravated stalking, harassment or sexual assault against the employee or an immediate family member of the employee; and (5) revises certain terms relating to paid family leave. Existing law further requires an appointing authority to pay an employee on paid family leave 50 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave. (NRS 284.356) Section 4 instead requires an appointing authority to pay: (1) 100 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave, if the employee earns not more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage; or (2) 60 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave but not more than 150 percent of the state average weekly wage, if the employee earns more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage. – 2 – - 83rd Session (2025) Section 4 also: (1) requires an employee to provide certain notice to the appointing authority of the employee’s intent to take paid family leave and make a reasonable effort to take paid family leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the appointing authority, in certain circumstances; (2) authorizes the Division of Human Resource Management of the Department of Administration to investigate any instance in which it has reason to believe that an employee has taken paid family leave to which the employee is not entitled, and after notice and a hearing, authorizes the Human Resources Commission to take certain remedial actions; and (3) establishes that paid family leave taken that also meets the requirements for eligibility for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 runs concurrently and authorizes an appointing authority to require any payment made for paid family leave to be made concurrently or otherwise coordinated with certain other policies and agreements. (29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq.) Section 7 of this bill establishes substantially similar provisions relating to the entitlement to paid family leave for certain state employees in the public service for employees of private employers and local government employers that have 50 or more employees in private employment in this State, thereby entitling the employees of the private employers to paid family leave. Sections 2 and 8 of this bill require an appointing authority, a private employer and a local government employer to establish reasonable procedures and forms for an employee to take paid family leave, which may not be unduly burdensome to the employee and are required to meet certain language requirements. Sections 2 and 8 also require the Commission and Labor Commissioner to establish by regulation the documentation that an employee may be required to provide to an appointing authority, a private employer or a local government employer to take paid family leave, place certain restrictions on the establishment of the regulations and make the documentation confidential. Sections 3 and 9 of this bill require an appointing authority, a private employer and a local government employer to provide to an employee certain written notice relating to paid family leave in certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions. Section 10 of this bill authorizes an employee to bring a civil action, and prescribes the remedies a court is authorized and required to award if an employer fails to take certain actions relating to paid family leave required by section 7. Section 11 of this bill requires the Labor Commissioner to enforce the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9, and section 12 of this bill makes a violation of the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9 a misdemeanor and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to impose, in addition to any other remedy or penalty, a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation. Section 14 of this bill repeals the provisions in existing law requiring a private employer to provide certain leave to employees relating to domestic violence and sexual assault, as these provisions are supplanted by the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9. Section 13 of this bill makes a conforming change to make a provision prohibiting certain actions relating to the repealed provisions instead apply to section 7. – 3 – - 83rd Session (2025) EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Chapter 284 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act. Sec. 2. 1. An appointing authority shall establish reasonable procedures and forms for an employee to take paid family leave pursuant to NRS 284.356, which may not be unduly burdensome to the employee. The forms must be written in English, each other language typically used in communications between an appointing authority and an employee and any other language that is the primary language of at least 10 percent of the employees at the workplace. 2. The Commission shall by regulation establish the documentation that an employee may be required to provide to an appointing authority in support of a request for paid family leave pursuant to NRS 284.356. The regulations adopted by the Commission: (a) Must use a liberal approach to the granting of paid family leave to an employee and not be unduly burdensome to the employee. (b) Must not require the disclosure of information that is confidential, privileged or protected under federal law. 3. Any documentation provided to an appointing authority pursuant to subsection 2 is confidential and must be retained by the appointing authority in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq. Sec. 3. 1. An appointing authority shall provide written notice of the provisions of NRS 284.356 to an employee: (a) Upon the hiring of the employee, and annually thereafter; (b) When the employee requests leave pursuant to NRS 284.356; and (c) When the appointing authority has reasonable knowledge that any leave request made by the employee may be for a qualifying reason entitling the employee to take paid family leave pursuant to subsection 1 of NRS 284.356. 2. The written notice required to be provided to an employee by an appointing authority pursuant to subsection 1 must include, without limitation: – 4 – - 83rd Session (2025) (a) The entitlement of the employee to paid family leave pursuant to NRS 284.356, and the terms under which it may be taken; (b) The amount of paid family leave available to the employee; (c) The procedures for taking the paid family leave; (d) The requirement that an appointing authority or his or her designee may not deny an eligible employee the right to take paid family leave, retaliate or take any adverse action against an employee for requesting, taking or filing a complaint against an appointing authority relating to paid family leave as set forth in subsection 6 of NRS 284.356; and (e) The manner in which an employee may file a complaint for any violations of the provisions of NRS 284.356 committed by an appointing authority. 3. Each appointing authority shall conspicuously post and keep so posted in a location in each workplace maintained by the appointing authority a bulletin with the information required by this section in a form approved by the Commission. If an appointing authority does not maintain a physical workplace or employs an employee whose work consists solely of remote work or telework, the appointing authority shall post the bulletin in a conspicuous location on the Internet website maintained by the appointing authority, if any. 4. All notices required by this section must be written in English, each other language typically used in communications between an appointing authority and an employee and any other language that is the primary language of at least 10 percent of the employees at the workplace. The Commission may adopt regulations to establish the means by which an appointing authority must provide the notice required by this section. Sec. 4. NRS 284.356 is hereby amended to read as follows: 284.356 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, an officer or employee of the Executive Department of the State Government who has been employed for not less than [12 consecutive months] 90 days is entitled to take [8] 12 weeks of paid family leave: (a) To bond with a newborn child of the employee or a newborn child of the domestic partner of the employee [;] , if taken not later than 12 months after the birth of the child; (b) To bond with a newly adopted or placed foster child of the employee [;] or spouse or domestic partner of the employee, if taken not later than 12 months after the adoption or placement of the child; – 5 – - 83rd Session (2025) (c) To complete any necessary preparatory tasks before the anticipated adoption or placement of a child pursuant to paragraph (b); (d) To recover from or undergo treatment for a serious illness [; (d)] or serious health condition, as defined by 29 U.S.C. § 2611, including, without limitation, pregnancy or the loss or end of a pregnancy; (e) To care for a seriously ill member of the immediate family of the employee; [or (e)] (f) For a qualifying event resulting from the military deployment to a foreign country of an immediate family member of the employee [.] ; or (g) For safe leave. 2. [An employee eligible for paid family leave pursuant to subsection 1 must have not less than 40 hours of sick leave accrued pursuant to NRS 284.355 before taking paid family leave.] Any sick leave accrued pursuant to NRS 284.355 in excess of 40 hours must be used before taking paid family leave. 3. An appointing authority shall pay an employee on paid family leave [50] : (a) One hundred percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave [.] , if the employee earns not more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage; or (b) Sixty percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave but not more than 150 percent of the state average weekly wage, if the employee earns more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage. 4. An employee that is entitled to take paid family leave pursuant to subsection 1 is not required to take paid family leave consecutively and may take paid family leave over the course of a 12-month period. 5. An employee shall: (a) Give notice, as soon as practicable, to the appointing authority of the employee’s intent to take paid family leave in accordance with the provisions of this section; and (b) Make a reasonable effort to take paid family leave in accordance with the provisions of this section in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the appointing authority, if the paid family leave is taken for events that are foreseeable to the employee. 6. An appointing authority or his or her designee shall not deny an eligible employee the right to take paid family leave in – 6 – - 83rd Session (2025) accordance with the provisions of this section or retaliate or take any adverse action against an employee for requesting, taking or filing a complaint against an appointing authority relating to paid family leave pursuant to [subsection 1.] this section. [6.] 7. The Division may investigate any instance in which it has reason to believe that an employee has taken paid family leave to which the employee is not entitled. If, after notice to the employee and a hearing, the Commission determines that the employee has taken paid family leave to which the employee was not entitled, the Commission may take any of the following actions: (a) Direct the appointing authority to seek repayment of funds relating to the paid family leave; or (b) Disqualify the employee from paid family leave benefits for a period not more than 1 year. 8. Paid family leave taken in accordance with the provisions of this section and that meets the requirements for eligibility for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq., runs concurrently. An appointing authority may require that any payment made [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]