With the passing of SB312 in 2019, Nevada law requires covered employers to provide earned paid leave to employees to use for any reason, including those for which unpaid sick leave is typically used. Below are some frequently asked questions about the state's paid sick leave requirements.
How much earned paid sick time must an employer offer an employee?
- Nevada Law requires covered employers to provide 0.01923 hours of paid leave per work hour.
- Employee’s paid leave may be accrued over the course of the year.
- Employee’s paid leave may also be made available, or "front-loaded" at the beginning of the year as a balance of hours to be used throughout the year.
Can paid sick leave be limited or does it expire?
- Employers may limit the amount of leave used in a year to 40 hours. Leave carryover may also be limited to 40 hours per year.
- Employers may, but are not required to, pay out unused leave upon separation from employment.
- If an employee is rehired within 90 days of involuntary separation, previously unused paid leave must be reinstated.
Who is a covered employer?
- A “covered employer” means a private employer with 50 or more employees in private employment in the state of Nevada.
- Employers who already provide paid time off pursuant to a contract, policy, collective bargaining agreement, or other agreement are not required to provide additional rights or leave under this law as long as the leave provided meets the minimum accrual rate (0.01923 hours of paid leave per work hour).
What employees are eligible for paid sick leave?
- Temporary, seasonal, and on-call employees are not entitled to leave under the law.
- Employees are eligible to use leave beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment.
What should employees use paid sick leave for?
- Employees may use available leave for any reason
- Employees are not required to provide the employer with a reason for taking this leave.
Learn more on Nevada's website.
How to set up accrual policies in OnPay
Go to Payroll, then Set up, and click Accrual Policies.
Click Add in the upper right to open the Policy Setup template.
The Policy Setup template is divided into two parts:
- Policy name and type
- Policy setup
Policy name and type
Give this policy a unique name that sets it apart from other accruals. The name should make it very clear how and when this policy will apply. For this example, we'll make a sick time policy that accrues annually, but we'll explore many more examples later in this article.
Determine the timeframe by which accrued time is earned. Your choices are “Per hour worked,” “Per pay period,” or “Annual on anniversary date” (hire date).
Choose when these hours will expire, if ever. Your choices are “Hours do not expire”, “Hours expire on anniversary”, or “Hours expire on Jan 1st”.
Select the accrual type.
Policy Setup
The Policy Setup is in three periods. This means hours accrued by workers can increase with their tenure in up to three stages. To create a probationary period, where no time is accrued until this introductory period is over, enter "0" per hour, then the number of months in the probationary period. If you don't want accruals to increase, enter the same information in each period. Unused hours will rollover to the next period. We'll explore more examples later.
Note: Setting the "Cap" is not the same as setting a "rollover limit".
- Some businesses limit the amount of unused time off that an employee can continue to hold going into a new year. This is to ensure that employees are taking the time they need to live a balanced and full life, as well as to protect the business from employees taking or cashing out large sums of paid time off all at once. We'll show you how to limit rollover in How to assign time off accrual policies to employees→
First two periods
For the first two periods, enter:
- How many hours can be accrued each year
- For how many months time is accrued at this rate
- The limit, or cap for these hours.
Third period
You don’t need to indicate the number of months in the third period. This period lasts for the remainder of the worker's employment.
Click Create when you're ready to finalize this accrual. Clicking Not Now will close this window, but will not save your progress.