Lawmaker hopes to extend paid family leave law to Nevada's private sector

Yahoo

12-02-2025

Assemblymember Selena La Rue Hatch during the 2023 Legislative Session. (Photo by Trevor Bexon for Nevada Current)
Only a fraction of Nevadans work for an employer that is required to offer paid family and medical leave, but one state lawmaker is hoping that might change this year.
Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch last week announced she submitted a bill draft request aimed at expanding the availability of paid family and medical leave in Nevada.
In 2023, state lawmakers unanimously approved a bill establishing up to eight weeks of paid family and medical leave for state employees. Employees, who must meet certain qualifications, are paid 50% of their regular wages.
'My goal is just to build on that work and continue expanding the number of people eligible, as well as (expanding) the types of leave that are available,' La Rue Hatch told the Nevada Current.
Specifics — such as who would be eligible for the leave, how many weeks of leave they would be eligible for, and what percentage of their wages they could receive — are still being worked out, La Rue Hatch said, but the idea is to expand the availability of paid family and medical leave to additional public employees and those in the private sector. She expects it to match or exceed what last session's bill established for state employees.
La Rue Hatch, a public teacher within the Washoe County School District, is among the tens of thousands of public employees in Nevada who were not covered by last session's bill. But she says her desire to tackle the issue was driven by conversations with constituents about how the lack of paid family and medical leave was causing financial and emotional hardships.
'I talked to a (University of Nevada Reno) student who had to go back to work within just a couple of weeks of giving birth and has serious health complications that came from that,' she said. 'I've had students (whose) family members have had serious, long-term illnesses and their parents can't take off to care for them.'
She added, 'This is a real issue that is affecting people across the state.'
The Reno Democrat intends her paid leave bill to cover post-birth recovery and bonding time for new parents, as well as time caring for ill family members. She also wants to include paid leave for victims of stalking or sexual assault and exigency leave for members of the military.
Nevada does not have broad paid family and medical leave requirements for private employers. The state is only five years into requiring large employers provide any kind of accrued paid time off.
In 2023, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring businesses receiving tax abatements through the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) to offer paid family and medical leave. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the bill, but its provisions were resurrected and made law as part of a special session bill that gave $380 million in public subsidies to the Athletics for a baseball stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
That paid family and medical leave requirement, which only applies to businesses with at least 50 employees, requires the businesses to offer at least 55% of a worker's salary for up to 12 weeks.
Leaders from GOED in spring of last year told lawmakers the requirement has brought 'some headwinds' and resulted in at least one company not relocating to Southern Nevada.
According to GOED's most recent annual report, more than half of the companies that have received abatements from the State of Nevada since 2012 had fewer than 50 employees, and 14 of the 25 companies approved for abatements in 2023 planned to have fewer than 50 employees.
Chambers of commerce and businesses typically oppose legislation mandating paid family and medical leave.
'With any bill in the Legislature, there's always opposition,' said La Rue Hatch of potential pushbacks to her proposal. 'My door is always open for folks that want to come talk about that. But I will say, 13 other states have paid family medical leave and businesses are operating just fine in those other states.'
Feb. 5 marked the 32nd anniversary of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, better known as FMLA, which protects many employees from losing their job while taking up to 12 weeks leave after qualifying events, like giving birth or needing to take care of an ill family member. FMLA only requires unpaid leave, and generally only applies to employees who've worked at least a year at a business with more than 50 workers.
According to a report released this month by the National Partnership for Women & Families, nearly half of all workers nationwide, and 66% of workers in Nevada, are ineligible for FMLA.
The United States is one of only six countries that does not have a national guaranteed, comprehensive paid leave program.
Several groups expressed early support for La Rue Hatch's legislation.
'Nevadans have family members who need or will need care in the future and worrying about having to choose between your job or family member is a choice no one should have to make,' said Nevada State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Susie Martinez in a statement.
Mi Familia Vota Civic Engagement Director William Moore noted that 'Latinos have significantly less access to paid family leave compared to other groups in Nevada.'
Amy-Marie Merrell, co-executive director of The Cupcake Girls, a nonprofit that assists sex workers and survivors of sex trafficking, said a lack of paid family leave creates financial hardships that traffickers exploit.
'When workers–especially parents, caregivers, and survivors–have access to paid leave, they can recover from medical issues, bond with their children, and care for their families without falling into financial crisis,' she said in a statement. 'This helps break cycles of poverty and exploitation, making communities safer and more resilient.'
Representatives from the Children's Advocacy Alliance, Northern Nevada Central Labor Council, SEIU Local 1107, Nevada State Education Association, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society also expressed support for paid family and medical leave.