Under Nevada overtime laws, non-exempt employees earn time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a work week, and lower-paid workers also earn time-and-a-half after 8 hours in a single workday. The daily rule only applies if your hourly pay falls below 1.5 times the state minimum wage; higher earners are covered only by the weekly rule. Both protections sit in NRS 608.018.1Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. NRS 608.018 Compensation for Overtime
The Wage Threshold That Decides Whether You Get Daily Overtime
Nevada does not give every worker the same overtime rights. The line runs at 1.5 times the state minimum wage. Earn below it, and you qualify for both daily and weekly overtime. Earn at or above it, and only the 40-hour weekly rule applies to you.
Since July 1, 2024, Nevada has a single minimum wage of $12.00 per hour for all employers, which puts the daily overtime threshold at $18.00 per hour.2Nevada Department of Business and Industry. Daily Overtime 2024 Annual Bulletin That change came from Ballot Question 2, which voters approved in November 2022 and which eliminated the older two-tier system that had set different minimum wages based on whether the employer offered health benefits.3Office of the Labor Commissioner. Office of the Labor Commissioner
If you are checking back pay from 2022, the older two-tier numbers apply. From January 1 through June 30, 2022, the daily overtime threshold was $13.125 per hour (with qualifying health benefits) or $14.625 (without). From July 1 through December 31, 2022, it rose to $14.25 and $15.75.4Nevada Legislature. Assembly Bill No. 456
Daily Overtime After Eight Hours
If your pay falls below the threshold, any time you work past eight hours in a single workday earns overtime, even if your weekly total never reaches 40. A single 10-hour Monday shift means two hours of overtime pay, whether or not you work the rest of the week.
Nevada defines a “workday” as any 24 consecutive hours starting when the employee begins work.5Office of the Labor Commissioner. Advisory Opinion AO-2025-07 Interpretation of Workday Clock in at 6:00 AM Tuesday and your workday runs until 6:00 AM Wednesday. This daily protection is the main way Nevada goes beyond the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which only requires overtime past 40 weekly hours.
The Four-Day, Ten-Hour Exception
There is one significant carve-out. If you and your employer mutually agree to a schedule of four 10-hour days in a work week, daily overtime does not kick in at hour eight. It kicks in only after the tenth hour.1Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. NRS 608.018 Compensation for Overtime The agreement has to be genuine; an employer cannot impose a 4×10 schedule unilaterally and claim the exemption. If the employer breaks the pattern, say by requiring a fifth day or changing shift lengths mid-week, the daily protection can come back into play. Weekly overtime still applies past 40 hours under a 4×10 arrangement.
Weekly Overtime After Forty Hours
Every non-exempt worker in Nevada earns overtime after 40 hours in a work week, regardless of hourly rate. For higher earners, this is the only overtime protection they have.
A “work week” is any seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The employer picks the starting day and hour, but once set, the choice has to remain consistent.6Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 608 – Compensation, Wages and Hours Rotating the week start day to avoid crossing 40 hours is not allowed.
For lower-paid workers who qualify for both daily and weekly overtime, the two do not stack. Hours already paid at the overtime rate under the daily rule are not counted again toward the weekly total. Employers also cannot use one to offset the other.
How Overtime Pay Is Calculated
Overtime is 1.5 times your “regular rate of pay,” which is not always the same as your base hourly wage. Under FLSA rules that Nevada employers also follow, the regular rate folds in most compensation earned during the pay period, including production bonuses, shift differentials, and non-discretionary commissions.
An example. A worker earns $12 per hour and a $60 weekly production bonus. Over a 45-hour week, straight-time compensation is ($12 × 45) + $60 = $600. The regular rate is $600 ÷ 45 = $13.33 per hour. Overtime for each of the five hours past 40 is $13.33 × 1.5 = $20.00 per hour, not $18.00. Skipping the bonus in the calculation is one of the more common ways employers underpay overtime.
Who Is Exempt From Overtime
NRS 608.018 excludes a long list of workers from both daily and weekly overtime.1Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. NRS 608.018 Compensation for Overtime
The white-collar exemptions cover bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees. A title alone is not enough. The worker’s actual duties have to meet federal standards, and the worker has to earn a guaranteed salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year).7U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for Overtime Exemptions Misclassifying an hourly worker as salaried exempt is a frequent source of wage claims.
Industry-specific exemptions apply to:
- Motor carrier drivers, helpers, loaders, and mechanics covered by the federal Motor Carrier Act; railroad workers; airline employees; local delivery drivers paid per trip; and taxicab or limousine drivers
- Agricultural employees
- Salespeople and mechanics primarily selling or servicing cars, trucks, or farm equipment at a dealership
- Employers with gross annual sales under $250,000
- Live-in domestic workers who agree in writing to waive overtime
Outside buyers and certain commissioned retail or service workers whose regular rate already exceeds 1.5 times minimum wage are also excluded, along with employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that addresses overtime differently. Independent contractors are not covered because overtime protections only apply to employees. Nevada uses a multi-factor test to decide whether a worker is genuinely independent, and misclassification exposes the business to back-pay liability.
Penalties for Employers Who Do Not Pay Overtime
An employer who fails to pay wages owed to a worker who quit or was fired faces waiting-time penalties: the worker’s pay continues to accrue at the same daily rate for up to 30 days after the missed payment. The Labor Commissioner can also impose administrative penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, and any violation of Chapter 608’s wage provisions is a misdemeanor.8Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 608 – Compensation, Wages and Hours – Section: NRS 608.195
If the worker has to sue to collect, the court can award reasonable attorney’s fees on top of the wages owed, provided the worker sent a written demand at least five days before filing.9Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 608 – Compensation, Wages and Hours – Section: NRS 608.140 Between waiting-time penalties, administrative fines, and fees, employers who ignore overtime often end up paying far more than the wages they tried to avoid.
How to File a Claim for Unpaid Overtime
There are two paths: an administrative complaint through the Nevada Office of the Labor Commissioner, or a private lawsuit.
Administrative Claim
The Labor Commissioner accepts wage claims through an online portal and investigates the dispute at no cost to the worker. The filing deadline is 24 months from the date of the violation.10Office of the Labor Commissioner. Forms for Employees You must have already asked your employer for the missing pay before filing. The agency will not take cases from self-employed workers, union members covered by collective bargaining, or workers who have already filed a private lawsuit on the same wages.
Civil Lawsuit
NRS 608.135 lets an employee sue for unpaid wages within two years of the violation.11Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 608 – Compensation, Wages and Hours – Section: NRS 608.135 You can also file under the federal FLSA, which has its own two-year deadline, extended to three years if the employer’s violation was willful (meaning the employer knew it was breaking the law or acted with reckless disregard).12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations State and federal claims can be pursued together. The federal claim is particularly useful when the state deadline has passed but the employer’s conduct was willful.