Nevada pregnancy law gives workers at employers with 15 or more employees two overlapping sets of rights: protection from discrimination and a right to reasonable workplace accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. Those rights come from the Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act, NRS 613.335, the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act that took effect in 2023.1Nevada DETR. Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act Separate laws add leave, lactation, and health coverage rights on top.
The 15-employee threshold matters. Nevada defines a covered employer as any business with 15 or more employees for each working day in at least 20 calendar weeks during the current or preceding year.2Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 613 – Employment Practices If you work for a smaller business, the state discrimination and accommodation protections do not apply, and no other Nevada statute fills that gap.
Protection From Pregnancy Discrimination
Under NRS 613.335, an employer cannot refuse to hire, fire, or otherwise discriminate against you because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII to treat pregnancy discrimination as a form of sex discrimination and requires employers to treat pregnant workers the same as other employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
Retaliation is also barred. Your employer cannot demote you, cut your hours, reassign you, or take any other adverse action because you complained about pregnancy discrimination, asked for an accommodation, or filed a charge with a government agency.1Nevada DETR. Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act Retaliation is its own violation. You do not have to win the underlying discrimination claim to win a retaliation claim.
Right to Reasonable Accommodations
The Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act, effective October 1, 2017, requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or recovery. An employer can refuse only if the accommodation would cause genuine hardship to the business.4Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 613.438 You do not have to prove a disability. A pregnancy-related need for a workplace change is enough.
Common accommodations include modified schedules, reassignment to lighter duties, extra restroom breaks, a stool or chair for jobs that normally require standing, help with lifting, permission to keep a water bottle at a workstation, a modified uniform, properly fitting safety equipment, and time off for prenatal appointments or recovery from childbirth.5U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act A flat refusal without considering alternatives violates the law.
Three related protections often get overlooked:
- Your employer cannot force you onto leave if a reasonable accommodation would let you keep doing your job.1Nevada DETR. Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act
- Your employer cannot impose an accommodation you did not ask for and do not want.
- Your employer cannot pass you over for a promotion or assignment because you need or might need a pregnancy-related accommodation.
The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, effective June 27, 2023, adds an independent accommodation right at employers with 15 or more employees nationwide. Its biggest practical advantage: unlike the older Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the federal PWFA does not require you to point to a non-pregnant coworker who got a similar accommodation. You are entitled to the accommodation because of your pregnancy-related limitation.6Federal Register. Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Where the state and federal laws overlap, you get whichever provides more protection.
What Counts as a Covered Condition
Coverage extends well beyond a typical pregnancy. The EEOC’s final rule lists miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion as covered “related medical conditions,” and includes fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization along with conditions like infertility that relate to potential or intended pregnancy.6Federal Register. Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Workers who would not describe themselves as “pregnant” can still qualify for accommodations.
Employer Notice You Should Have Received
Nevada employers must give written notice of your accommodation rights. New employees should receive it when they start. Existing employees should receive it within 10 days after the employer learns of the pregnancy. Employers also have to post the notice in a visible workplace location.7Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. Pregnancy Fairness Act If you never received that notice, your rights still apply. The failure to notify can matter later if you need to show the employer knew its obligations.
Leave for Pregnancy and a New Baby
Leave rights depend on your employer’s size and your work history. Start with the fact that Nevada’s accommodation law prefers keeping you at work over sending you home. If a schedule change or duty modification would work, your employer cannot substitute leave for it.1Nevada DETR. Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act
When you do need extended time off, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for pregnancy-related reasons, including prenatal appointments, childbirth recovery, and bonding with a newborn. FMLA covers private employers with 50 or more employees and all public agencies and public or private schools regardless of size. To qualify, you must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before leave, and work at a location where your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28: The Family and Medical Leave Act The leave is unpaid, but your employer must keep your group health insurance on the same terms and return you to the same or an equivalent position.
Nevada has no dedicated paid family leave program for private-sector workers. NRS 608.0197 does require private employers with 50 or more employees to let workers accrue paid leave, usable after 90 days of employment, for any reason and without explaining why. An employer can cap use at 40 hours per benefit year.9Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 608.0197 That is a supplement to FMLA, not a replacement.
State executive-branch employees have a stronger benefit. NRS 284.356 provides 8 weeks of paid family leave to bond with a newborn after 12 consecutive months of state employment, and it also applies to domestic partners bonding with a newborn.10Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 284.356 – Paid Family Leave
Lactation Breaks and Space
Nevada law requires employers to provide reasonable break time to express breast milk for a child under one year old. Breaks can be paid or unpaid and must be available as often as needed. The employer must also provide a private space that is not a bathroom, free from view and intrusion. Employers with fewer than 50 employees may claim an exemption if compliance would create undue hardship given their size and financial resources.11Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 608.0193
The federal PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, effective in 2023, provides parallel rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act: reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space for up to one year after a child’s birth. The PUMP Act extended these protections to workers previously excluded, including agricultural workers, teachers, nurses, and truck drivers.12U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Protections to Pump at Work
Health Insurance During Pregnancy
Under the Affordable Care Act, maternity and newborn care is one of ten essential health benefit categories that ACA-compliant plans in the individual and small-group markets must cover, including prenatal visits, labor and delivery, and postnatal care.13Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Information on Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Plans Insurers cannot charge higher premiums or deny coverage because of pregnancy. Large-group and self-insured employer plans are not technically required by the ACA to cover the essential health benefits package, but most cover maternity care voluntarily, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employer-sponsored plans to treat pregnancy the same as other medical conditions.14HealthCare.gov. Health Coverage Options for Pregnant or Soon to Be Pregnant Women
Nevada Medicaid covers pregnant women with household incomes up to 195% of the federal poverty level. It covers prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum services. You can apply at any time during pregnancy without waiting for an open enrollment period.
How to File a Complaint
The Nevada Equal Rights Commission investigates state discrimination claims. You have 300 days from the last discriminatory act to file.15Nevada DETR. Filing a Charge of Discrimination That window matches the federal EEOC deadline, so you can pursue state and federal claims at the same time. NERC typically gathers documents, interviews witnesses, and attempts mediation.
If NERC does not resolve the claim in your favor, it issues a right-to-sue notice. You then have 90 days from receiving that notice to file a lawsuit in state district court.2Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 613 – Employment Practices Filing directly with the EEOC preserves your federal claims under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the federal PWFA.
Available remedies include back pay, front pay, reinstatement, and compensatory damages for emotional distress, along with punitive damages in appropriate cases. Federal compensatory and punitive damages are capped by employer size, ranging from $50,000 for employers with 15 to 100 employees up to $300,000 for employers with more than 500.16U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Remedies for Employment Discrimination Nevada’s punitive damage rules under NRS 42.005 work differently, and an attorney can evaluate which route is likely to produce a better result on your facts.