Nevada overtime laws follow the federal 40 hour week and then add a rule most states do not have: daily overtime. An employee paid less than $18.00 an hour earns time and a half for every hour over 8 in a workday, and Nevada counts that workday as 24 hours from the moment the employee starts work. That definition is why back to back shifts can trigger overtime even when no single shift runs past 8 hours.
This guide explains both rules for 2026, the 4 day, 10 hour exception, who is exempt, and what employees can do about unpaid overtime. Worked examples use the current minimum wage, and every figure links to the Nevada statute or Labor Commissioner bulletin behind it.
- Nevada overtime laws: the short answer
- Is overtime after 8 hours or 40 hours in Nevada?
- The 24 hour workday rule
- How to calculate overtime pay in Nevada
- Who is exempt from overtime in Nevada
- Nevada overtime laws for salaried employees
- Is mandatory overtime legal in Nevada?
- Meal and rest breaks
- Is overtime taxed in Nevada?
- What happens if overtime is not paid
- Five Nevada overtime mistakes
- FAQ
Nevada overtime laws: the short answer
The rules sit in NRS 608.018, which requires overtime at “1 1/2 times an employee’s regular wage rate.” Which hours count depends on how much the employee earns.
| Question | Answer in Nevada | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum wage | $12.00 an hour for all employees, with no separate rate for workers who get health benefits | 2026 Minimum Wage Bulletin |
| Daily overtime | After 8 hours in a workday, for employees paid less than $18.00 an hour | NRS 608.018(1) |
| Weekly overtime | After 40 hours in a workweek, for everyone who is not exempt | NRS 608.018 and the FLSA |
| What counts as a workday | 24 consecutive hours from when the employee begins work | NRS 608.0126 |
| Exception to daily overtime | A mutually agreed schedule of 4 days of 10 hours in a week | NRS 608.018(1)(b) |
| Salary for exempt executives, administrators, professionals | At least $684 a week under the federal test | US Department of Labor |
Nevada voters approved Ballot Question 2 in November 2022, which ended the old two tier minimum wage as of July 1, 2024. Articles that still quote different rates for employees with and without health benefits are out of date, and so are their daily overtime thresholds.
Is overtime after 8 hours or 40 hours in Nevada?
It depends on the employee’s rate of pay. The Labor Commissioner’s 2026 bulletin splits employees into two groups:
- Paid less than $18.00 an hour: overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 8 in a 24 hour period, or over 40 in a workweek. The figure is 1.5 times the $12.00 minimum wage.
- Paid $18.00 an hour or more: overtime only for hours over 40 in a workweek. NRS 608.018(2) applies the federal regular rate rules to this group.
The threshold is based on the wage the employer pays. A server paid $14.00 an hour plus tips is generally in the daily overtime group, because tips belong to the employee in Nevada and NRS 608.160 bars employers from counting them toward the minimum wage. A part time employee in the lower pay group gets daily overtime too: one 9 hour shift earns an hour of overtime, even in a 20 hour week.
The 24 hour workday rule
Nevada does not count overtime by calendar day. NRS 608.0126 defines a workday as “a period of 24 consecutive hours which begins when the employee begins work.”
That matters when shifts move around. If an employee works 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Monday and is called in at 4:00 am on Tuesday, the hours from 4:00 am to 8:00 am on Tuesday still belong to the workday that started on Monday morning. Monday’s workday now holds 12 hours, and 4 of them are daily overtime for an employee paid under $18.00 an hour (see Example 4 below).
The rule catches split shifts, early call ins, and “clopening,” where someone closes late and opens early the next day. Scheduling software that resets the count at midnight will miss it, so employers with rotating schedules need records of exact start times.
How to calculate overtime pay in Nevada
Overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular rate. For hourly employees with no extra pay, the regular rate is the hourly wage. Commissions and nondiscretionary bonuses are added to it under the federal rules NRS 608.018(2) refers to, and our overtime calculator handles those cases. The four examples below use 2026 rates.
Example 1: daily overtime in a 40 hour week
A warehouse worker in Reno earns $16.00 an hour and works 10, 10, 8, 8, and 4 hours from Monday to Friday. The week totals exactly 40 hours, so there is no weekly overtime, but Monday and Tuesday each run 2 hours past 8.
Under federal law alone, the same week would pay $640. Daily overtime adds $32.
Example 2: the same week at $22.00 an hour
A technician in Las Vegas earns $22.00 an hour and works the same 10, 10, 8, 8, 4 schedule. Because $22.00 is above the $18.00 threshold, only weekly overtime applies, and the week has none.
Example 3: a 4 day, 10 hour schedule with an extra shift
An employee earning $15.00 an hour agrees in advance to a schedule of four 10 hour days. Those 40 hours carry no daily overtime because of the exception in NRS 608.018(1)(b). One week, the employer adds a 4 hour Friday shift.
The exception covers the agreed 10 hour days only. If one of those days ran to 11 hours, the extra hour would be overtime as well.
Example 4: back to back shifts and the 24 hour rule
A cook earning $14.00 an hour works 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Monday, then 4:00 am to 12:00 pm on Tuesday. Each shift is 8 hours, but Monday’s workday runs until 8:00 am Tuesday and picks up 4 of Tuesday’s hours.
How the next workday is counted after an overlap like this is less settled. If your schedules overlap often, ask the Labor Commissioner how to count the following days.
Who is exempt from overtime in Nevada
NRS 608.018(3) lists the employees the state overtime rules do not cover. The main groups are:
- Employees in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional roles.
- Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that sets its own overtime terms.
- Commissioned employees in retail or service businesses whose regular rate is more than 1.5 times minimum wage and who earn more than half their pay from commissions.
- Outside buyers, agricultural employees, and taxicab and limousine drivers.
- Drivers, loaders, and mechanics for motor carriers, plus employees of railroads and air carriers.
- Salespeople and mechanics who mainly sell or service cars, trucks, or farm equipment.
- Employees of businesses with gross sales under $250,000 a year.
- Live in domestic workers who agree to the exemption in writing.
A Nevada exemption only settles the state side. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act has its own coverage rules, and an employee who is exempt in Nevada can still be owed weekly overtime under federal law. Small businesses are the usual example: the Nevada exemption for sales under $250,000 does not remove federal coverage for employees who, for instance, handle interstate commerce as part of their job. Our guide on who is exempt from overtime pay explains the federal side.
Nevada overtime laws for salaried employees
Being paid a salary does not make someone exempt. The Nevada statute exempts “bona fide executive, administrative or professional” employees but does not set its own salary figure, so the federal test is the one employers apply. Under the Department of Labor’s earnings thresholds, those employees must earn at least $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, and their main duties must fit the exemption.
A salaried employee who does not meet the test is non exempt and earns overtime like anyone else. To check which overtime rule applies, convert the salary to an hourly rate. A $680 weekly salary for a 40 hour week works out to $17.00 an hour. That is below $18.00, so this employee gets daily overtime as well as weekly overtime. Our article on overtime for salaried employees covers how to calculate it.
Is mandatory overtime legal in Nevada?
For most adult employees, yes. NRS 608.018 regulates how overtime is paid, not how many hours an employer can schedule, and the federal Department of Labor states that there is “no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek” (DOL). What an employer cannot do is require the hours and skip the pay. NRS 608.016 requires wages “for each hour the employee works,” including trial or break in periods.
Private employers also cannot give comp time instead of overtime pay. Under 29 U.S.C. § 207(o), only public agencies may offer compensatory time, and most public employees can bank up to 240 hours of it.
Meal and rest breaks
Long shifts raise break questions as well as overtime ones. Under NRS 608.019:
- An employee cannot work 8 continuous hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes.
- Employees get a paid 10 minute rest period for each 4 hours worked or major fraction of 4 hours. Rest periods count as hours worked.
- Rest periods are not required when total daily work is under 3.5 hours.
- The section does not apply where only one person works at a location, or to employees under a collective bargaining agreement, and the Labor Commissioner can grant exemptions for business necessity.
A paid rest break counts toward the 8 hour daily overtime limit. An unpaid meal period of 30 minutes or more does not.
Is overtime taxed in Nevada?
Nevada has no state personal income tax, so overtime carries no state income tax. It is still subject to federal income tax and to Social Security and Medicare withholding.
For tax years 2025 through 2028, the IRS explains that workers can deduct qualified overtime compensation: the part of overtime pay the FLSA requires above the regular rate, which is the “half” in time and a half. The deduction is capped at $12,500 a year, or $25,000 for joint filers, and phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 for joint filers.
Only FLSA required overtime qualifies. Nevada’s daily overtime is a state requirement, so the premium for daily overtime hours that are not also over 40 in the week may not count. Ask a tax adviser how the deduction applies to a specific paycheck.
What happens if overtime is not paid
An employee in Nevada has two main routes:
- A wage claim with the Nevada Labor Commissioner. Claims are filed through the Labor Commissioner’s complaint forms. This route covers the state rules, including daily overtime, which federal law does not.
- A complaint to the US Department of Labor or a lawsuit under the FLSA for weekly overtime. 29 U.S.C. § 255 allows two years from each missed payment, or three years if the violation was willful, and a successful claim usually adds an equal amount in liquidated damages.
Final pay has its own penalty. Under NRS 608.040, if an employer does not pay a discharged employee within 3 days, or an employee who quits by the day wages are due, the employee’s wages continue “at the same rate” until paid, for up to 30 days. Unpaid overtime owed at termination is part of those wages.
Whatever the claim, an employer’s defense rests on records of when each shift started and ended. Without exact start times, there is no way to show how the 24 hour workday was counted. Our guide to employee timekeeping covers what those records need to show.
Five Nevada overtime mistakes
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Using the old two tier wage rates.
Daily overtime thresholds of $10.88 or $12.38 an hour date from before July 2024. The 2026 threshold is $18.00.
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Counting the workday by calendar date.
Nevada’s workday starts when the employee starts work. Resetting at midnight misses overtime on overlapping shifts.
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Treating 4 by 10 as automatic.
The exception needs a mutual agreement and a scheduled week of four 10 hour days. A fifth shift or an 11 hour day brings overtime back.
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Assuming salaried means exempt.
An employee paid under $684 a week, or whose duties fail the test, is owed overtime, and daily overtime too if the hourly equivalent is under $18.00.
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Relying on the small business exemption alone.
The Nevada exemption for gross sales under $250,000 does not switch off federal overtime for employees the FLSA covers.
For comparison with other states, see our guides to California overtime laws, which also has daily overtime, and Texas overtime laws, which follows the federal rules alone.
Tracking overtime with actiTIME
Nevada’s two rules need two kinds of data: weekly totals for the 40 hour rule and exact start and end times for the 24 hour workday. In actiTIME, employees can log time against tasks in a weekly timesheet or as exact start and stop times in Calendar View, and managers approve each week before payroll.
- Overtime Registration calculates overtime automatically for each user, or lets employees enter it manually, depending on the setting you choose for them.
- The Time Balance and Overtime Report compares worked time with scheduled hours across the team.
- Calendar View records the start and end of each time card, which shows when each workday began.
- Set an overtime rate in each user’s profile, and overtime costs appear in the Cost of Work Report by project and customer.
- Approved weeks can be locked, so hours that went to payroll cannot be changed afterward.
FAQ
What are the overtime laws in Nevada for 2026?
Employees paid less than $18.00 an hour earn time and a half after 8 hours in a 24 hour workday or 40 hours in a week. Employees paid $18.00 or more earn it after 40 hours a week. The minimum wage is $12.00 an hour, and the 2026 bulletin took effect on July 1, 2026.
Is over 8 hours overtime in Nevada?
Only for employees paid less than $18.00 an hour, and only if they are not on an agreed 4 day, 10 hour schedule. Everyone else earns overtime after 40 hours in a workweek.
Do part time employees get overtime in Nevada?
Yes. Nevada’s overtime rules apply to hours worked, not to job status, and neither NRS chapter 608 nor the FLSA defines part time. A part time employee paid under $18.00 an hour who works a 9 hour shift earns 1 hour of daily overtime, even if the week is far below 40 hours.
What is the 24 hour rule in Nevada?
It is the state’s definition of a workday: 24 consecutive hours starting when the employee begins work. Hours from a new shift that starts within that window count toward the earlier workday for daily overtime.
Is it illegal to work 8 hours without a break in Nevada?
Generally, yes. NRS 608.019 requires a meal period of at least 30 minutes within any continuous 8 hours, plus a paid 10 minute rest break for each 4 hours worked. The exceptions are single employee workplaces, employees under a collective bargaining agreement, and employers with a Labor Commissioner exemption.
Keep start times, not just totals
Most Nevada overtime mistakes come from counting hours the way federal law does. Weekly totals settle the 40 hour rule, but daily overtime and the 24 hour workday need the exact time each shift began, for every employee paid under $18.00 an hour. Check that threshold each July, when the Labor Commissioner publishes the new bulletin.
To see how that works with your team, start a free trial of actiTIME. It runs for 30 days with every feature included, and afterward you can keep the permanent free version for teams of up to 3 users.
