Nevada largely follows the Fair Labor Standards Act provisions for exempt employees; however, the Nevada Revised Statutes includes regulations for exempt employees as well. Therefore, as a Nevada employer, you must review the FLSA and Nevada statutes before classifying an employee as exempt. The work rules for exempt employees vary from those who are nonexempt.

Identification

An employee in Nevada who is not exempt from federal and state exempt requirements is nonexempt and qualifies for overtime pay. These employees are normally paid on an hourly basis for the exact number of hours they work during the pay period. Exempt employees in Nevada are usually white-collar employees, such as executive, administrative or professional employees who perform the job duties that the FLSA requires for their position. These employees are usually paid on a salary basis. On occasion, an employee may receive payment on a salary basis but does not perform the exempt duties the FLSA requires for her position. Such an employee is salaried-nonexempt and qualifies for overtime.

Work Criteria

An exempt employee in Nevada must receive full salary of no less than $455 per week, as of 2011, regardless of hours or days worked. You do not have to pay the employee for weeks in which he does no work. If he takes a partial day off, you would pay him for the full day. Specifically, an exempt employee receives full salary unless an allowed deduction applies. You may base an exempt employee’s pay on his working a set schedule for the week, such as 40 or 35 hours. If there’s a decline in business, or if the employee fails to work the required hours, you may reduce salary to match the reduced work hours, provided the employee’s pay does not fall below the minimum salary requirement.

Deductions

Under the FLSA, an exempt employee’s salary can be deducted in the following instances: during the initial and last week of employment if the employee does not work the entire week, to offset payments made to the employee for jury or witness duty or short-term military duty pay, for overuse of benefit days, for unpaid disciplinary suspension, for penalties imposed because the employee broke a major safety rule and for unpaid time taken under the Family Medical Leave Act.

Section 284.148 of the Nevada Revised Statutes says that an executive, administrative or professional employee – as defined by the FLSA – who is a doctoral-level professional, or the head of a division, department or bureau should not receive disciplinary suspension for less than one week.

Overtime Requirements

Nevada’s overtime laws require payment of 1 1/2 times the employee’s regular pay rate for work hours that exceed eight for the day or 40 for the week. The FLSA requires overtime pay only for work hours that exceed 40 for the week. A salaried nonexempt employee is therefore entitled to overtime pay according to Nevada’s overtime policies, since you’re supposed to use the law that benefits the employee the most.