During the recent 2017 session of the Nevada Legislature, lawmakers passed a flurry of bills impacting the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees within the state. While there are many new laws that employers should be sure to familiarize themselves with, three are particularly notable because they require new labor law notices to be posted in the workplace.
Nursing Mothers Accommodation Act
The Nursing Mothers Accommodations Act requires every employer to provide covered employees with reasonable break time to express breast milk, as well as a place which is reasonably free from dirt or pollution, protected from view, and free from intrusion in which to do so. Break time may be provided paid or unpaid. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights under the law, or for taking actions to require the employer to comply with the law.
- A private employer with fewer than 50 employees is not subject to the act if the requirements of this law would impose an undue hardship due to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.
- A covered employee must be the mother of a child below 1 year of age.
- An employee is not covered if they are employed by a licensed contractor and performing work in a construction job site located 3 or more miles from the employer’s regular place of business.
This act went into effect on July 1, 2017. The enforcing agency, the Office of the Labor Commissioner, requires every employer to post the Nursing Mothers Accommodation Act posting in the workplace.
Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act
The Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act establishes that it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to provide a reasonable accommodation to a female employee or job applicant for a physical or mental condition intrinsic to pregnancy or childbirth. A reasonable accommodation may include (but is not limited to) providing different seating, revising break schedules, authorizing light duty, or providing a modified work schedule.
- Employers are subject to the act if, during the previous or current year, they have employed 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more weeks.
- Only female employees and job applicants are covered by most provisions of the act, but the notice and posting requirements apply to all employees.
- Employers are required to provide written or electronic notification describing specified provisions of this Act and NRS 613.335 to a new employee upon commencement of employment, and to an employee 10 days after she notifies the employee’s immediate supervisor that she is pregnant.
- Employers must post the notice in a conspicuous place at the employer’s place of business, in an area that is accessible to employees.
Although most provisions of this law do not go into effect until October 1, 2017, employers are required to immediately provide all existing employees with the required notice and post it in the workplace. The enforcing agency, the Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC), has created the Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act poster to comply with the specifications of these requirements.
Domestic Violence Victims Bulletin
This act establishes that an employee is entitled to a maximum of 160 hours of health and safety leave in the 12-month period following the date on which the employee or a family/household member is the victim of an act which constitutes domestic violence. This leave may be offered paid or unpaid, and may be deducted from available FMLA leave. Leave may be used to pursue treatment for a health condition or counseling, to participate in court proceedings, or to establish a safety plan in response to an act of domestic violence.
- A covered employee must have been employed by the employer for at least 90 days.
- An employee who is the alleged perpetrator of the act which constitutes domestic violence is not entitled to leave under this act.
- Employers are required to maintain a record of the hours of leave taken under this section for each employee for a 2-year period.
- Employers are required to post the Domestic Violence Victims Bulletin in a conspicuous location in each workplace maintained by the employer.
This act, including the posting requirement, does not go into effect until January 1, 2018. However, the Office of the Labor Commissioner has released the required bulletin in advance of the act going into effect and suggests that it be posted immediately so that employers and employees can familiarize themselves with the provisions of the act.
Don’t forget to purchase the new Nevada All-On-One™ Poster!
Here at CPC, we have redesigned our Nevada All-On-One™ Poster to include all three of these new mandatory notices. The Nevada All-On-One™ Poster (and Nevada Mobile Poster Pak™ for mobile workers) includes the most commonly required state, federal, and OSHA labor law notices which employers are required to post in the workplace. Currently, the revised All-On-One™ and Mobile Poster Pak™ are only available in English.
To accommodate these new postings while maintaining the readability of other required postings, we have removed Nevada Law Prohibits Discrimination from the All-On-One Poster. Nevada Law Prohibits Discrimination is not required, although the NERC recommends that employers post this notice in the workplace to inform employees that the employer complies with anti-discrimination laws. You can purchase this poster as a separate specialty item here.