2023 Nevada Legislature – Summary of New Labor & Employment Laws, Part II

Below is a supplemental summary of new laws passed by the 2023 Nevada Legislature that may impact a Nevada employer. For each, we have provided a link to Nevada’s legislative website where you can view the final text of the bill (click on “As Enrolled”).

Some of these bills may require a change to your policies and procedures. If you have questions about these bills or need assistance with such policy changes, please contact a KZA attorney.

Be sure to check Issue 27 of the KZA Employer Report for other new bills. The summary below supplements Issue 27 with additional bills that have now become law.

SB 305 – Nevada Employee Savings Trust Program. This bill implements a “state automatic-IRA program,” called the Nevada Employee Savings Trust Program. It requires most private employers to enroll most employees in either Nevada’s new Employee Savings Trust Program or a similar retirement savings program offered by a trade association or chamber of commerce. It applies to any employer with more than 5 employees that has been in business for at least 36 months and does not currently have a tax-favored retirement plan for its employees or has not offered a retirement plan for the last 3 years. It applies to any adult employee who is employed for at least 120 days. The majority of this bill goes into effect on July 1, 2025.

SB 274 – Worker’s Compensation. This bill makes a variety of changes to the procedures of insurers and third-party administrators and revises the circumstances under which physicians or chiropractic physicians can be removed from an insurer’s list or panel. It also changes procedures for injured employees in relation to independent medical examinations. The bill increases the penalties that can be imposed for refusing to process a worker’s compensation claim or other violations of the law from an amount not less than $5,000 and not greater than $50,000 to not less than $17,000 and not greater than $120,000. It changes the procedures for appeals and broadens the circumstances under which an investigation must be conducted. Most of these changes become effective on January 1, 2024.

AB 259 – Sub-minimum wages. This bill eliminates the sub-minimum wage certificate program in the State of Nevada for workers with intellectual or developmental disabilities and provides for a transition period during which providers of jobs and day training services must establish a plan to transition such workers to earning at least the state minimum wage or pursue other services. This new law becomes effective in stages and is designed to end the sub-minimum wage program by January 1, 2028. New contracts or arrangements cannot be entered into on or after January 1, 2025.

SB 1 of 35th Special Session – Tax abatements/FMLA. This bill was passed during a special session of the Nevada Legislature, convened on June 7 and closed on June 14, 2023. While the focus of SB 1 was on a major league baseball stadium project, a few previously vetoed bills were repackaged into this bill and passed as part of SB 1. As such, Section 39 to SB 1 provides that a new or expanded Nevada business applying for a partial abatement of taxes under NRS 360.750 must offer at least twelve weeks of paid family and medical leave to its employees at a rate of at least 55% of the employee’s regular wage per year if the business will have at least 50 full-time employees on the payroll by the eighth calendar quarter after the abatement becomes effective. The section also provides anti-discrimination, retaliation, and interference provisions. This section of the bill becomes effective on October 1, 2023. 

KZA Employer Report articles are for general information only; they are not intended and should not be construed to be legal advice. Reading or replying to such articles does not establish an attorney-client relationship. In addition, because the subject matters and applicable laws discussed in Employer Report articles are often in a state of change and not always applicable to every type of business entity or organization, readers should consult with counsel before making decisions based on the same.