According to our 2019-2020 Nevada Benefits & Personnel Practices Survey, 23% of participating employers do not allow employees to use sick time to care for a sick family member (exclusive of FMLA requirements). A new law that goes into effect on October 1st would change that.
Beginning October 1st, Nevada employers who offer sick leave for employees must allow employees to use sick leave for the illness, injury, medical appointment, or other authorized medical need of their immediate family (commonly referred to as “kin care”). This new leave requirement, enforced by the Labor Commissioner, applies to all Nevada employers, regardless of size.
Assembly Bill 190 (AB190), which was signed into law by Governor Sisolak on May 29, 2021, provides that if an employer provides paid or unpaid sick leave for use by their employees, they must allow an employee to use any accrued sick leave to assist a member of the employee’s immediate family who has an illness, injury, medical appointment, or other authorized medical need. Use of sick leave for this reason would be to the same extent and under the same conditions as if the employee were taking sick leave for themselves.
“[AB190] helps caregivers with short-term healthcare needs, such as providing for an immediate family member with a brief illness, transporting an immediate family member to a medical appointment or rushing an immediate family member to a hospital or urgent care facility.” – Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod
For purposes of kin care, immediate family means the child, foster child, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent of the employee or any person for whom the employee is a legal guardian.
Employers may limit the amount of sick leave that an employee may use for kin care to the amount of sick leave that the employee accrues in a 6-month period. Meaning, if an employee accrues 40 hours of sick leave in a year, the employee could be limited to using no more than 20 hours of their 40 hours of sick leave for kin care in a year. Employers could not deny the use of leave for kin care or retaliate against an employee for using sick leave for kin care.
The Nevada Association of Employers (NAE) is uniquely situated to keep our members appraised for what is happening at the state and federal level. We monitor legislative process, administrative policies, and proposed agency rules to ensure our members receive accurate and up-to-date information regarding their obligations as employers in Nevada. For more information about NAE and what we do for Nevada employers, visit our website. If you are a Nevada employer interested in membership, please contact membership@nevadaemployers.org or join today!
