Nevada: Lactation Break and Space Requirements
The short answer
Yes. Nevada requires reasonable pumping time as needed for the mother of a child under one year and a non-bathroom place reasonably free from dirt or pollution, protected from view, and free from intrusion. The time may be paid or unpaid unless a collective-bargaining agreement requires compensation; hardship alternatives, a fewer-than-50 hardship exemption, a remote construction-jobsite exclusion, retaliation protection, Labor Commissioner enforcement, and a separate 15-plus pregnancy-accommodation route also apply.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Nevada. Ezel applies current Nevada law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| State law and federal interaction | NRS 608.0193 requires pumping time and specified space in private employment; NRS 281.755 supplies a parallel public-body rule. Nevada's 15+ Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act can also require revised break schedules and non-bathroom pumping space. Federal § 218d independently supplies its one-year floor |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | Nevada break/space rule covers an employee who is the mother of a child under 1; fewer-than-50 employer may claim undue hardship, and a licensed contractor is exempt for an employee at a construction jobsite ≥3 miles from the regular business. Public bodies are parallel, except Department of Corrections. Pregnancy-accommodation route begins at 15+ |
| Break frequency and duration window | Reasonable break time as needed while child is under 1 (NRS 608.0193). Pregnancy accommodation may revise break frequency/duration through a timely good-faith interactive process and has no stated child-age cutoff; federal floor separately says each time needed for 1 year |
| Paid status and work during break | State lactation time may be with or without compensation; it must be paid when a collective-bargaining agreement requires. Nevada also requires wages for each hour worked, and federal law makes pumping time paid when duties continue |
| Space location and privacy | Place cannot be a bathroom; must be reasonably free from dirt/pollution, protected from others' view, and free from intrusion. No proximity, temporary/shared-space, priority, lock/sign, camera, or mobile-worksite standard, apart from the remote construction-jobsite exclusion |
| Equipment, water, cooling, and access | No Nevada pumping-specific chair, pump surface, outlet, sink, running-water, refrigerator, cooler, supplies, hazard, or availability checklist; state requires reasonable freedom from dirt/pollution, and federal law separately requires functional space available when needed |
| Request, notice, policy, and response | No special request form for NRS 608.0193. On claimed hardship, employer meets with employee to seek a reasonable alternative and may select one if no agreement. Under 15+ accommodation law, request triggers timely good-faith interactive process; employer must give rights notice at hire, within 10 days after pregnancy notice, and post it conspicuously |
| Job protection, enforcement, and remedies | Broad retaliation ban for using time/space or seeking compliance. Labor Commissioner enforces Chapter 608; violation can be a misdemeanor and draw up to $5,000 administrative penalty. Pregnancy-accommodation complaint to NERC is due within 300 days and may lead to right-to-sue/court relief. Public employees use specified internal/board complaint routes; federal remedies are separate |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Nevada requires time and a clean private place through age one
NRS 608.0193 requires reasonable break time as needed for an employee who is the
mother of a child under one year old. The place cannot be a bathroom. It must be
reasonably free from dirt or pollution, protected from others' view, and free
from intrusion.
The statute does not add a chair, surface, outlet, sink, running water,
refrigerator, cooler, room-use priority, or proximity rule. Federal 29 U.S.C.
§ 218d independently requires functional space available when needed and bars
coworker and public intrusion.
Pay and hardship require separate analysis
Nevada says the pumping time may be with or without compensation. If a
collective-bargaining agreement requires paid break time, covered pumping time
must be compensated. NRS 608.016 separately requires wages for every hour
worked, and federal law treats the whole pumping period as paid work when the
employee is not completely relieved from duty.
When an employer claims compliance would cause undue hardship, it may meet with
the employee to seek a reasonable alternative. If no agreement is reached, the
employer may require a reasonable alternative it selects. An employer with
fewer than 50 employees has a separate hardship exemption.
A licensed contractor is outside NRS 608.0193 for an employee working at a
construction jobsite at least three miles from the employer's regular place of
business. Federal coverage must still be analyzed separately.
A 15-plus accommodation law can add an interactive process
Under NRS 613.310 and 613.4371, an employer with at least 15 employees must
engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process after a qualifying employee
requests accommodation for a pregnancy-, childbirth-, or related medical
condition. A lactation-related medical condition is expressly included.
Reasonable accommodations may include revising the frequency or duration of
breaks and providing a non-bathroom area for expressing milk. The employer bears
the burden of proving undue hardship after refusing or failing to attempt the
requested accommodation. It may not take adverse action because the employee
requested or used the accommodation.
NRS 613.4377 requires written or electronic rights notice at hiring and within
ten days after an employee notifies the immediate supervisor of pregnancy. The
employer must also post the notice conspicuously where employees can access it.
Retaliation, Labor Commissioner penalties, and NERC remedies apply
NRS 608.0193 bars retaliation for using the time or space or taking action to
require compliance. Under NRS 608.180 and 608.195, the Labor Commissioner
enforces the chapter; a violation can be a misdemeanor and can draw an
administrative penalty up to $5,000 for each violation.
For the pregnancy-accommodation route, NRS 233.160 gives an employee 300 days to
file with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission. The employee may obtain a right-
to-sue notice and seek appropriate legal or equitable relief in district court.
NRS 281.755 provides parallel break, place, alternative, retaliation, and
agency-specific complaint rules for public employees. The Department of
Corrections is excluded, although encouraged to comply when practicable.
What trips people up
“With or without compensation” is not the whole pay answer. A collective-
bargaining agreement can require pay, and time is paid when work duties continue.
The construction exclusion is location-specific. It applies only to a
licensed contractor's employee at a jobsite at least three miles from the regular
business location.
The accommodation route is not limited to the under-one break statute. A
qualifying lactation-related medical condition can trigger the 15-plus employer
interactive process without a stated child-age cutoff.
Common questions
Can a Nevada employer use a bathroom as the pumping place?
No. Both NRS 608.0193 and the federal statute exclude a bathroom.
Must the Nevada room have a refrigerator or outlet?
Neither item appears in Nevada's pumping-specific statute. The room must meet
the dirt/pollution, view, and intrusion standards, while federal law separately
requires it to be functional.
What happens if employer and employee cannot agree on a hardship alternative?
NRS 608.0193 allows the employer to require a reasonable alternative selected by
the employer. That does not erase independently applicable federal or pregnancy-
accommodation rights.
Statutes and sources
- NRS 608.0193; NRS 608.016, 608.180, and 608.195 — private break, place,
pay, alternatives, exceptions, retaliation, enforcement, and penalty.Reasonable break time, with or without compensation, for the employee to
express breast milk as needed
Official source: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-608.html#NRS608Sec0193 (accessed 2026-07-22)
- NRS 613.310 and 613.4365 to 613.438 — 15-plus pregnancy/lactation
accommodation, interactive process, examples, hardship, notice, and adverse
action.
Revising break schedules ... [and] Providing space in an area other than a
bathroom that may be used for expressing breast milk
Official source: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-613.html (accessed 2026-07-22)
- NRS 233.160; NRS 613.405, 613.412, 613.420, and 613.432 — NERC filing,
right-to-sue, and court relief.
Employment ... must be filed with the Commission not later than 300 days
Official sources: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-233.html and https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-613.html (accessed 2026-07-22)
- NRS 281.755 — parallel public-body rights and complaint routes.
a public body shall provide ... Reasonable break time, with or without
compensation
Official source: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-281.html#NRS281Sec755 (accessed 2026-07-22)
- 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a)-(c), (h) — federal time, space, pay, hardship, and
greater-protection rules.
Break time ... shall be considered hours worked if the employee is not
completely relieved from duty during the entirety of such break.
Official source: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section218d&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-22)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Nevada handles this in general. Ezel applies current Nevada law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.