Under existing law, an employee of the Executive Department of the State Government who has been employed for not less than 12 consecutive months is entitled to take 8 weeks of paid family leave over a 12-month period, under certain circumstances, to: (1) bond with a newborn child of the employee or a newborn child of the domestic partner of the employee; (2) bond with a newly adopted child of the employee; (3) recover from or undergo treatment for a serious illness; (4) care for a seriously ill member of the immediate family of the employee; or (5) participate in a qualifying event resulting from the military deployment to a foreign country of an immediate family member of the employee. (NRS 284.356) Section 4 of this bill: (1) provides such entitlements to officers of the Executive Department of the State Government; (2) decreases the time an employee must be employed to receive the entitlement from 12 consecutive months to 90 days; (3) increases the entitlement from 8 weeks to 12 weeks; (4) entitles an employee to take paid family leave to bond with a newly placed fostered child of the employee, complete any necessary preparatory tasks before the anticipated adoption of a child or placement of a foster child in certain circumstances, to recover from certain serious health conditions, including pregnancy or the loss or end of a pregnancy and for certain purposes resulting from an act of domestic violence, stalking, aggravated stalking, harassment or sexual assault against the employee or an immediate family member of the employee; and (5) revises certain terms relating to paid family leave. Existing law further requires an appointing authority to pay an employee on paid family leave 50 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave. (NRS 284.356) Section 4 instead requires an appointing authority to pay: (1) 100 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave, if the employee earns not more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage; or (2) 60 percent of the regular wage the employee would have earned if the employee was not on leave but not more than 150 percent of the state average weekly wage, if the employee earns more than 110 percent of the state average weekly wage. Section 4 also: (1) requires an employee to provide certain notice to the appointing authority of the employee's intent to take paid family leave and make a reasonable effort to take paid family leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the appointing authority, in certain circumstances; (2) authorizes the Division of Human Resource Management of the Department of Administration to investigate any instance in which it has reason to believe that an employee has taken paid family leave to which the employee is not entitled, and after notice and a hearing, authorizes the Human Resources Commission to take certain remedial actions; and (3) establishes that paid family leave taken that also meets the requirements for eligibility for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 runs concurrently and authorizes an appointing authority to require any payment made for paid family leave to be made concurrently or otherwise coordinated with certain other policies and agreements. (29 U.S.C. §§ 2601, et seq.) Section 7 of this bill establishes substantially similar provisions relating to the entitlement to paid family leave for certain state employees in the public service for employees of private employers and local government employers that have 50 or more employees in private employment in this State, thereby entitling the employees of the private employers to paid family leave. Sections 2 and 8 of this bill require an appointing authority, a private employer and a local government employer to establish reasonable procedures and forms for an employee to take paid family leave, which may not be unduly burdensome to the employee and are required to meet certain language requirements. Sections 2 and 8 also require the Commission and Labor Commissioner to establish by regulation the documentation that an employee may be required to provide to an appointing authority, a private employer or a local government employer to take paid family leave, place certain restrictions on the establishment of the regulations and make the documentation confidential. Sections 3 and 9 of this bill require an appointing authority, a private employer and a local government employer to provide to an employee certain written notice relating to paid family leave in certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions. Section 10 of this bill authorizes an employee of a private employer to bring a civil action, and prescribes the remedies a court is authorized and required to award if an employer fails to take certain actions relating to paid family leave required by section 7. Section 11 of this bill requires the Labor Commissioner to enforce the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9, and section 12 of this bill makes a violation of the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9 a misdemeanor and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to impose, in addition to any other remedy or penalty, a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation. Section 14 of this bill repeals the provisions in existing law requiring a private employer to provide certain leave to employees relating to domestic violence and sexual assault, as these provisions are supplanted by the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9. Section 13 of this bill makes a conforming change to make a provision prohibiting certain actions relating to the repealed provisions instead apply to section 7.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 284.356, 239.010, 608.180, 608.195, 613.223, 608.0198
BDR: 284.356, 239.010, 608.180, 608.195, 613.223, 608.0198