Minimum wage hike triggers change in OT, too

Nevada's minimum wage is going up July 1, and employers also will see a change in the requirement for daily overtime for workers who are on the job more than eight hours in a day.

The state's minimum wage will rise to $5.85 an hour for workers who receive health benefits from their employers and $6.85 an hour for workers who don't have health benefits at work. Currently, the rates are $5.30 for workers with health plans and $6.33 for workers without.

The state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006 that established the two-tiered minimum wage system also requires an annual adjustment to the state's minimum wage. The adjustments are based on increases in the federal minimum wage or changes in the Consumer Price Index.

Higher minimum wages, in turn, trigger changes in the state's overtime regulation, said Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek.

State law requires payment of daily overtime to workers who make less than one and a half times the state's minimum wage.

With the new minimum wage in place, daily overtime now is required for workers with medical benefits who make less than $8.775 or workers without benefits who make less than $10.275 an hour.

Nevada is one of six states with a daily overtime requirement in addition to the more familiar requirement for overtime pay for more than 40 hours in a work week.

"What sets Nevada apart from the other states is that our daily overtime requirement is tied to the minimum wage," Tanchek said. But he said many employers aren't familiar with the state law.

Generally, only a handful of workers are exempt from the state's minimum wage requirements trainees in their first 90 days or work, for example, or students under 18 who are employed by nonprofits in after-school or summer jobs.