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Nevada’s minimum wage to remain unchanged, officials say

Nevada will leave the state’s minimum hourly wage unchanged when the new fiscal year starts July 1, the Office of the Labor Commissioner said in a statement.

The minimum wage for employees who are offered qualified health benefits from their employers will remain at $7.25 per hour, according to the statement. The minimum wage for employees who are not offered health benefits will remain at $8.25 per hour.

That translates into a weekly salary of $290 and $330 respectively based on a standard 40-hour work week.

The state’s 2006 Minimum Wage Amendment requires the minimum wage to be recalculated each year based on increases in the federal minimum wage or, if greater, by the cumulative increase in the cost of living.

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. The minimum wage rate is the lowest hourly pay that can be awarded to workers, also known as a pay floor.

Nevada will also keep the rate for daily overtime unchanged in the new fiscal year. Nevada is one of a few states with a daily overtime requirement in addition to the requirement to pay overtime for more than 40 hours in a work week.

Workers who receive qualified health benefits from their employers and earn less than $10.875 per hour must be paid overtime whenever they work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

Workers without qualified health benefits are entitled to receive overtime if their hourly pay is less than $12.375.

Three bills to raise minimum wage have been introduced this session in the Nevada Legislature, but they have gained little momentum.

An Assembly version calls for an annual $1.25 hourly increase until the wage hits $15 per hour. A Senate version, and a joint resolution each seek to raise the wage 75 cents each year beginning in 2022 until it reaches $12 an hour. The bills were heard in February, but have not been picked up since.

Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0386. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.

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