NV: Certain Periods for Meals, Sleep, and Other Free Time May Be Excluded from Domestic Service Employees' Wages Under a Written Agreement

Law Contains Recordkeeping and Overtime Provisions

Under a new law in Nevada, an employer and domestic service employee may agree in writing to exclude certain periods for meals, sleep, and other free time from the wages of the domestic service employee. Highlights of the law are presented below.

Definition of 'Domestic Service Employee'
Under the law, "domestic service employee" means an employee who performs any household service in or about a private residence or any other location at which a person resides. The term includes (among other things) caregivers and other persons who are employed at a residential facility for groups, companions, babysitters, cooks, waiters, valets, housekeepers, nannies, nurses, janitors, caretakers, home health aides, and personal care aides.

Periods Excluded from Wages
If a domestic service employee resides in the household where he or she works, the employer and domestic service employee may agree in writing to exclude from the wages of the domestic service employee:

• Periods for meals if the period for meals is at least one-half hour for each meal;
• Periods for sleep if the period for sleep excluded from the wages of the domestic service employee does not exceed 8 hours; and
• Any other period of complete freedom from all duties during which the domestic service employee may either leave the premises or stay on the premises for purely personal pursuits. To be excluded from wages under this provision, a period must be of sufficient duration to enable the domestic service employee to make effective use of the time.

However, if a period excluded from the wages of the domestic service employee under the law is interrupted by a call to duty by the employer, the interruption must be counted as hours worked for which compensation must be paid.

Recordkeeping
An agreement under the law may be used to establish the total hours of employment of a domestic service employee in a pay period in lieu of maintaining precise records of the number of hours worked per day. The employer must keep a copy of the agreement and indicate in the record of wages under state law that the work time of the domestic service employee generally coincides with the agreement.

If it is found by the parties that there is a significant deviation from the initial agreement, a separate record must be kept for the period in which the deviation occurs or a new agreement must be reached that reflects the actual facts.

Overtime
Certain state overtime provisions (see section: 2.5) do not apply to a domestic service employee who resides in the household where he or she works if the domestic service employee and his or her employer agree in writing to exempt the domestic service employee from state overtime requirements.

Additional details are contained in the text of the law. The law is effective on July 1, 2017.

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