Pregnancy accommodations are changes to a job that let a pregnant worker keep working safely while keeping the same chances at pay, hours and promotion as everyone else. Nevada law gives workers a clear right to ask for them, and it spells out what an employer must do once the request is made. Some workers hold off on asking because they worry how a supervisor will react.
This article explains what you can ask for, how the request is supposed to be handled, when an employer can say no and what counts as punishment for asking. Your own facts will decide how the law applies to you, so treat it as a starting point.
Which Nevada employers and workers are covered?
The Legislature wrote that NRS 613.4353 through 613.4383 “may be cited as the Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act.” The act sits inside NRS chapter 613. Under NRS 613.310, which supplies definitions for NRS 613.310 through 613.4383, an employer is a person with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The definition leaves out the federal government, Indian tribes and certain tax-exempt private membership clubs. If your employer has fewer than 15 employees, the act may not apply, and a lawyer can check whether another rule or a written policy does.
The Nevada text speaks of a “female employee” and a female applicant. It covers a physical or mental condition intrinsic to pregnancy or childbirth, and NRS 613.4359 says that includes lactation and the need to express breast milk. It also covers a “related medical condition,” which NRS 613.4365 defines as any medically recognized physical or mental condition related to pregnancy, childbirth or recovery from them. The statute’s list includes gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, postpartum depression, and loss or end of pregnancy along with recovery from it.
A federal law runs alongside the Nevada one. The EEOC’s plain-language page on the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act says the act took effect on June 27, 2023. It applies to private employers and to state and local governments with 15 or more employees. It does not replace state or local laws that protect workers more.
What can you ask for under Nevada law?
NRS 613.4371 lists examples of reasonable accommodations. The list is not a cap, because the statute says an accommodation may include these items “without limitation.”
- Modifying equipment or providing different seating.
- Revising break schedules, including how often breaks happen or how long they last.
- Providing space other than a bathroom to express breast milk.
- Providing help with manual labor when that labor is incidental to your main duties.
- Authorizing light duty.
- Temporarily transferring you to a less strenuous or hazardous position.
- Restructuring a position or providing a modified work schedule.
The same section describes an accommodation as a change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done. The point is to let you do the essential functions of the job while keeping benefits equal to those of other employees.
Picture how that looks on real Las Vegas jobs. A cocktail server on a casino floor might ask for a stool at a service station and more frequent short breaks. A hotel housekeeper might ask for help moving heavy loads. A warehouse worker might ask for a temporary move to a station without climbing or lifting. These are only examples. Whether a request is reasonable depends on the job and on what your health care provider recommends.
How is your employer supposed to respond?
The statute does not treat a request as a one-line yes or no. When a female employee asks for an accommodation for a pregnancy-related condition, NRS 613.4371 says the employer and employee “must engage in a timely, good faith and interactive process to determine an effective, reasonable accommodation.” That means a real conversation, and both sides take part. An employer who lets a request sit for weeks, or answers with a form letter and no discussion, is not following that process.
An employer may ask for medical support. NRS 613.438 allows an employer to require an explanatory statement from your physician about the specific accommodation the physician recommends. A short note that names the specific change, such as a stool, longer breaks or a lifting limit, fits what the statute describes.
Employers also have a notice duty. Under NRS 613.4377, an employer must give employees a written or electronic notice of their rights under the act, including the right to a reasonable accommodation for a pregnancy-related condition. It must go to a new employee at the start of the job and within 10 days after an employee tells her immediate supervisor that she is pregnant. It must also be posted in a conspicuous place that employees can reach. If you told a supervisor and never received the notice, write down the date.
When can an employer say no?
An employer can refuse in only a few situations. The main one is undue hardship. NRS 613.438 makes it an unlawful employment practice to refuse a reasonable accommodation for a pregnancy-related condition unless it would impose an undue hardship on the business.
The burden of proof matters here. Under NRS 613.4374, the burden shifts to the employer once the employee shows two things. She asked for a reasonable accommodation, and the employer refused to provide it or to attempt to provide it. The employer then has to show that the accommodation is significantly difficult or expensive to provide. The statute lists what counts, including the nature and cost of the accommodation, the employer’s overall financial resources, the overall size of its business, and the effect on its expenses and operations. Those factors look at the employer’s real size and means, so the same request can be treated differently at a large resort company than at a small shop.
The statute adds a rule that helps workers. If the employer provides, or would be required to provide, a similar accommodation to a similarly situated employee, that creates a rebuttable presumption that the accommodation is not an undue hardship. The employer can still try to prove otherwise, but it starts out behind. If a coworker with a different medical need received a stool, light duty or a modified schedule, mention that to a lawyer.
The law also sets limits. Under NRS 613.4371, an employer does not have to create a position it would not otherwise create. It also does not have to discharge another employee, transfer a more senior one or promote someone who is not qualified. Those limits give way if the employer has done or would do the same for other classes of employees. NRS 613.438 excuses actions based on a bona fide occupational qualification. It also carves out narrow exceptions for licensed contractors, such as a lactation space at a construction job site more than 3 miles from the contractor’s regular place of business.
Can your employer make you take leave or choose the accommodation for you?
In most cases, no. NRS 613.438 makes it unlawful to require an employee to accept an accommodation that she did not request or chooses not to accept. It also makes it unlawful to require her to take leave from employment if a reasonable accommodation is available that would let her continue to work. Sending a pregnant worker home unpaid when a stool or a lighter schedule would do is the kind of situation those provisions address.
Leave has its own rule. If an employer grants paid leave, unpaid leave or leave without loss of seniority for sickness or disability, NRS 613.4383 says it must extend the same benefits for a pregnancy-related condition. A pregnant employee must be allowed to use that leave before and after childbirth, miscarriage or other natural resolution of the pregnancy. This applies when the leave is granted, accrued or allowed to accumulate as part of her benefits.
What counts as punishment for asking?
The law protects the request itself. NRS 613.438 makes it unlawful to take an adverse employment action against a female employee because she requests or uses a reasonable accommodation. The statute’s examples include refusing to promote her, requiring her to transfer to another position, and refusing to reinstate her to the same or an equivalent position when she returns. It also reaches any other action that changes her terms or conditions of employment in a way she does not want. The same section bars denying an employment opportunity to an otherwise qualified employee or applicant because she needs an accommodation.
Think about how that looks in practice. A transfer to a slower section with fewer tips, a schedule that suddenly loses the busiest shifts, or a new write-up rule that appears right after the request each deserve a closer look. Not every change is unlawful. The questions are whether the change happened because of the request and whether it changed the job in a way the worker did not want.
Timing helps tell the story, so keep the dates. If the job itself ends, our article on being fired while pregnant covers that separate question and what to do next.
How should you ask so there is a record?
The EEOC says workers do not need to use specific words to start the process under the federal act, and the Nevada text sets no required wording either. A written request still helps everyone remember what was said. Our piece on requesting a reasonable accommodation at work covers the same habit for disability accommodations. For pregnancy, these steps keep the record clean.
- Tell your supervisor and human resources in writing, by email or text. Name the change you need and the date you need it.
- Ask your health care provider for a short note that names the specific accommodation.
- Keep copies in a personal account or on a personal device, not only in work systems.
- After any conversation, send a one-line follow-up that sums up what was said.
- Write down the date you first told a supervisor, the date any notice arrived, and the date each answer came.
- Keep doing your job and following written rules, and watch for changes in hours, pay or duties after you ask.
A request can be short. For example, “I am pregnant, and my provider recommends that I sit more often during my shift. I am asking for a stool at my station and a break schedule that lets me sit down. Please let me know a time this week to talk.” It names the need and the request without extra medical detail.
What if the answer is no?
A refusal, silence or punishment after the request can be reported to a government agency. In Nevada, that is the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, and a federal complaint goes to the EEOC. The statute that limits court actions, NRS 613.430, counts time from the date of the act complained of. It allows more time after a right-to-sue notice, and it pauses the clock while a complaint is pending with the commission. The periods are short, so do not wait. A lawyer can count the days from the first date that mattered.
When pregnancy and a different kind of injury overlap
Some pregnant workers are hurt in ways that have nothing to do with accommodations. A fall in a store, a casino parking garage or an apartment complex is a different kind of case. If a property owner left a hazard in place, the question is who was responsible for the dangerous condition, not whether a request was answered. Our premises liability practice handles those claims. An injury at work is usually a workers’ compensation matter, which works differently, so tell a lawyer where it happened.
Talk to a lawyer before the dates slip
A pregnancy accommodation dispute is easier to sort out while the messages, schedules and dates are fresh. A lawyer who handles employment cases in Las Vegas can read your request, the employer’s answer and any schedule changes together. The Bourassa Law Group offers a free consultation to workers who were refused an accommodation or who suspect they were punished for asking. Bring your written request and notes on dates. You can start through the contact page.
This article is general information about Nevada law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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