Nevada’s Minimum Wage Increases to $12 an hour

Effective today, the minimum wage for all workers in Nevada will increase to $12 an hour. The increase is a result of Assembly Bill 456 (AB456), which was signed into law in 2019.

AB 456 increased the minimum wage in increments of 75 cents annually over a five-year period. Today’s increase to $12 per hour reflects the final increase per the bill’s language. Prior to AB 456, employers could offer a reduced minimum wage if they provided qualified health benefits. Now, the $12-an-hour applies to all employees regardless of health benefits.

Before today, the minimum wage was $11.25 per hour, or $10.25 an hour if the employer provided health benefits.

Nevada Ballot Question 2, passed by Nevada voters in November 2022, amended the state constitution and eliminated the two-tier minimum wage system which provided a reduction in the required minimum wage if an employer offered qualified health benefits.

Ballot Question 2 also removed the existing annual inflation adjustments to the minimum wage and allowed the state legislature to pass a minimum wage law setting the rate higher than the constitutionally mandated minimum.

As of July 1, 2024, an increase in the minimum wage will also increase the daily overtime rates, except for those employees exempted from overtime requirements under NRS 608.018.

Employees in Nevada that earn one and one-half times the minimum wage ($18 per hour) or more are eligible for overtime at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for over 40 hours of work in a week.

Employees that earn less than $18 per hour are eligible for overtime at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for over 8 hours of work in a 24-hour period, or, over 40 hours of work in a workweek.

Since AB 456 was passed, inflation has skyrocketed in the Silver State. As The Globe reported, Nevadans are paying an extra ~$28,000 for basic household expenses due to inflationary spending by the Biden Administration.