How Does Overtime Work in Nevada: Rules, Exemptions, Wage Claims

Overtime in Nevada works on two tracks. Every non-exempt employee earns one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, and lower-paid employees also earn that premium after 8 hours in a single workday. Both rules come from NRS 608.018, and which one applies to you depends on how your hourly pay compares to the state minimum wage.¹

The 40-Hour Weekly Rule

Any non-exempt employee who works more than 40 hours in a workweek is owed time-and-a-half for the excess hours, regardless of hourly rate. Your employer defines the workweek. It can start on any day and at any hour, but it has to be a fixed, recurring seven-day period, and once set, the employer cannot shift it around to dodge overtime.

The rate used for the calculation is your regular rate, not just your base wage. Under federal law, regular rate includes almost all compensation you earn for working: shift differentials, non-discretionary bonuses, piece-rate earnings, and commissions. In a week where you receive one of those payments, divide your total compensation by the total hours worked to find the regular rate for that week, then multiply the overtime hours by half that rate to get the premium you’re owed on top of straight-time pay.

The 8-Hour Daily Rule

Nevada also pays daily overtime, but only to lower-paid workers. If your hourly rate is less than one and one-half times the state minimum wage, you’re entitled to time-and-a-half after 8 hours in a single workday, on top of any weekly overtime you earn.¹ Nevada’s minimum wage is $12.00 per hour in 2026, so the daily overtime cutoff is $18.00 per hour.² Earn $18.00 or more and only the weekly rule applies to you.

A “workday” here is not a calendar day. Under NRS 608.0126, it’s a rolling 24-hour period that starts when your shift starts.¹ That prevents an employer from stacking two long shifts across midnight to avoid the daily premium.

The 4/10 Schedule Exception

Compressed schedules have their own rule. If you and your employer mutually agree to a schedule of four 10-hour days, hours 9 and 10 of each shift do not trigger daily overtime.¹ The agreement has to be real; your employer cannot impose a 4/10 schedule without your consent.

The carve-out is narrow. Anything past 10 hours in a day still triggers daily overtime, and anything past 40 hours in the week still triggers weekly overtime. If the schedule actually worked deviates from the agreement, say a fifth day gets added or a shift runs long, standard daily overtime rules apply to the departure.³

Who Doesn’t Get Overtime

Several categories of workers fall outside these rules. The most common are the executive, administrative, and professional employees covered by the federal white-collar exemptions. To qualify, an employee must earn a guaranteed salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year), the level the U.S. Department of Labor currently enforces after a federal court vacated a higher threshold in November 2024.⁴ The employee’s primary duties also have to fit the exemption: managing a department or team, exercising independent judgment on significant business matters, or performing work requiring advanced specialized knowledge such as law, medicine, or engineering.⁵ Meeting the salary test alone is not enough.

Drivers, driver’s helpers, loaders, and mechanics working for motor carriers under U.S. Department of Transportation jurisdiction are exempt under a separate federal provision.⁶ Agricultural workers and certain seasonal employees also fall outside Nevada’s overtime requirements under specific provisions of state law.

Independent contractors are not covered at all. But the label on your paperwork does not decide the question. Whether you’re an employee turns on an economic-reality test that looks at how much control the hiring party has over your work and whether you have a real chance to profit or lose from your own initiative. If your employer sets your hours, provides your tools, and dictates how the work gets done, you may be legally an employee entitled to overtime whatever your contract says.

Calculating What You’re Owed

The regular rate is where employers most often shortchange overtime. It has to include all non-discretionary compensation for the week, not just base pay. That means:

Shift differentials for nights, weekends, or holidays
Non-discretionary bonuses tied to productivity, attendance, or targets announced in advance
Piece-rate pay
Commissions

A truly discretionary bonus, like a surprise year-end gift your employer had no obligation to pay, does not count. If a non-discretionary bonus covers several weeks, your employer has to go back and recalculate overtime for each week in that period at the higher effective rate.

To work out what you’re owed for a given week, you need three things: the hours you actually worked, all compensation you received for that week, and the start day of the employer’s workweek. Divide total compensation by total hours to find the regular rate. Multiply the overtime hours by half that rate. That’s the premium you should have been paid on top of your straight-time earnings.

Filing a Wage Claim

If your employer refuses to pay overtime you’re owed, you can file a wage claim with the Nevada Office of the Labor Commissioner through their online portal at no cost.⁷ The claim asks for the employer’s legal name and contact information, the dates and hours at issue, your hourly rate, and the total amount missing. A clear calculation speeds the investigation. Once the claim is accepted, the employer has 15 days to respond to a Notice of Claim, and an investigator reviews pay stubs, time records, and the employer’s written response before the Labor Commissioner issues a determination.⁸

You can also file a confidential complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243, and you can pursue a state claim and a federal complaint at the same time, though wages recovered through one process offset what you can collect through the other.⁹

Deadlines

Nevada gives you two years to bring a civil action for unpaid wages, running from the date the employer failed to pay.¹ The federal Fair Labor Standards Act runs on the same two-year clock, extended to three years if the violation was willful, meaning the employer knew it was breaking the law or acted with reckless disregard.¹⁰ Each unpaid paycheck starts its own clock, so if you were shorted every week for 18 months, you can still recover the full period as long as you file before the oldest week ages out. Wait too long and the earliest weeks drop off for good.

What You Can Recover

Unpaid overtime cases often produce more than the missing wages themselves.

If your employment ends and your employer doesn’t pay what’s owed within three days of a discharge, or by the regular payday after a resignation, your wages keep accruing at your regular daily rate for up to 30 days.¹¹ That waiting-time penalty stacks on top of the actual overtime owed.

Under the FLSA, an employer who violates overtime rules is liable for the unpaid overtime plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, effectively doubling the recovery. A court can reduce or eliminate liquidated damages only if the employer proves it acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds to believe it was complying. When you prevail, the court also awards reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, which the employer pays.¹²

Retaliation Is Illegal

Your employer cannot fire you, threaten to fire you, or intimidate you for participating in a wage investigation or proceeding.¹ Federal law is parallel: no employer may retaliate against an employee who files a wage complaint, cooperates with an investigation, or testifies in a proceeding about overtime or minimum wage violations.¹³ If retaliation happens, you may be entitled to reinstatement, lost wages, and additional liquidated damages equal to those lost wages.

1
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code Chapter 608 – Compensation, Wages and Hours
2
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
3
State of Nevada Department of Business and Industry Office of the Labor Commissioner. Frequently Asked Questions – About Us
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees Under the FLSA
6
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 782 – Exemption from Maximum Hours Provisions for Certain Employees of Motor Carriers
7
Office of the Labor Commissioner. Forms for Employees
8
Nevada Office of the Labor Commissioner. What Happens if a Claim Is Filed Against My Company
9
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 US Code 255 – Statute of Limitations
11
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 608.040 – Penalty for Failure to Pay
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 US Code 216 – Penalties
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 US Code 215 – Prohibited Acts