Nevada Employment Law Update – June 2018

Employers May Pay Lower-Tier Minimum Wage if Health Insurance Offered

According to the May 31, 2018 Nevada Supreme Court opinion in MDC Restaurants, LLC v. The Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 134 Nev. Op. 41, an employer may pay the Minimum Wage for Working Nevadans Act’s lower-tier minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) to an employee if both:

• The employer offers health insurance at a cost to the employer of the equivalent of at least an additional dollar per hour in wages; and
• At a cost to the employee of no more than 10 percent of the employee’s gross taxable income from the employer.

The higher-tier wage is $8.25 per hour and applies if benefits are not offered.

Employers must comply with the opinion and either pay the lower-tier with benefits or the higher-tier without benefits.

Read the opinion