Court says woman must be paid for sleeping on the job

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015 | 3:08 p.m.

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that sleep counted as work time when a woman was on a 24-hour shift and she must be paid for those hours spent snoozing.

The court said Kayla Moore is owed $2,797 for the time she slept while a coach counselor at a juvenile detention center in Yerington.

Moore signed on in 2013 to work 24 hour shifts that included 14 hours of work, eight hours of unpaid sleep time and two hours of unpaid meal time.

After she left the job, she filed claims to be paid for the sleep time.

Former state Labor Commissioner Thoran Towler and District Court Judge Nathan Tad Young agreed Moore was entitled to be paid for the eight hours she slept during her shifts.

The state Supreme Court said Monday that Nevada law at the time did not define work or if sleep counted as work time. The law was amended in 2015, but the court said the new rules could not be applied retroactively.