Nevada Meal & Rest Break Rules

For employers with 2 or more employees, an employee is entitled to a 30-minute meal period for any continuous 8-hour period of work. The meal period may be unpaid if the employee is fully relieved of duty.

A paid 10-minute rest period is required for each 4 hours worked (or major fraction), placed near the middle of the work period where practicable.

The requirements do not apply where there is only one employee at a particular location, and a collective-bargaining agreement may provide different terms.

Unlike California, Nevada does not impose a one-hour premium by statute. NRS 608.019 states the meal and rest entitlements and attaches no premium to a missed break; the enforcement route is the Labor Commissioner instead (NRS 608.180 enforcement, NRS 608.195 criminal and administrative penalties), so a missed break surfaces as a wage claim rather than an automatic hour of pay. Build breaks into schedules and timekeeping.

Two things narrow the duty and are easy to miss. NRS 608.019(3) exempts a place of employment where only one person is employed, and employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. NRS 608.019(4)–(5) lets the Labor Commissioner grant a business-necessity exemption to an individual employer or a defined category of employers. And under NAC 608.145(3) an employee may voluntarily agree to forgo a rest or meal period — but the employer carries the burden of proving that agreement exists.