If you are seeing or hearing this, then either your browser/user agent does not support Cascading Style Sheets, or you have elected to turn them off.  You may see and/or hear immediately following this notice alerts regarding national security or the Amber Alert system that do not apply.  To see if these alerts apply, follow the links provided.  -Commonwealth of Kentucky
The national Homeland Security Advisory System's Threat Condition is currently red, meaning severe.  Check your local radio or television stations for up-to-date information.  You may also check the National Homeland Security website or the Kentucky Homeland Security website for more information.  -Commonwealth of Kentucky
The national Homeland Security Advisory System's Threat Condition is currently orange, meaning high.  Check your local radio or television stations for up-to-date information, or you may visit the National Homeland Security website or the Kentucky Homeland Security website for more information.  -Commonwealth of Kentucky
An Amber Alert has been issued.  Visit the Kentucky Emergency Management website for information.  -Commonwealth of Kentucky
Logo for the Kentucky.gov site.  By clicking this logo, you will be taken to the Kentucky state home page. KY Agencies| KY Services  
www.labor.ky.gov Logo
Kentucky Unbridled Spirit-External Site

Get Adobe Reader
Last Modified:  7/4/2009
Kentucky Wage and Hour Regulations

 

Wage and Hour Posters

Wage Discrimination Because of Sex - English Version

Wage Discrimination Because of Sex - Spanish Version

Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws - English Version

Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws - Spanish Version

Kentucky Child Labor Law - English Version

Kentucky Child Labor Law - Spanish Version

REST PERIODS
No employer shall require any employee to work without a rest period of at least ten (10) minutes during each four (4) hours worked except those employees who are under the Federal Railway Labor Act. This shall be in addition to the regularly scheduled lunch period. No reduction in compensation shall be made for hourly or salaried employees.

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.365 Rest periods
803 KAR 1:065 Hours worked

LUNCH PERIODS
Employers, except those subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act, shall grant their employees a reasonable period for lunch, and such time shall be as close to the middle of the employee's scheduled work shift as possible. In no case shall an employee be required to take a lunch period sooner than three (3) hours after the work shift commences, nor more than five (5) hours from the time the work shift commences. This section shall not be construed to negate any provision of a collective bargaining agreement or mutual agreement between the employee and employer.

For additional information on lunch periods, select a link below:

KRS 337.355 Lunch periods
803 KAR 1:065 Hours worked

MINIMUM WAGE
Effective June 26, 2007, every employer shall pay each employee not less than $5.85 per hour. Effective July 1, 2008, the rate will increase to $6.55 per hour.  Effective July 1, 2009, the minimum wage rate will increase to $7.25 per hour.

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.275 Minimum wage
KRS 337.010 (2) Definition of employee
803 KAR 1:065 Hours worked
803 KAR 1:066 Recordkeeping requirements
803 KAR 1:070 Salaried exempt
803 KAR 1:075 Minimum wage and overtime exclusions
803 KAR 1:080 Board, lodging, gratuities and other allowances
803 KAR 1:090 Sheltered workshop

TIPPED EMPLOYEES
Effective July 15, 1998, for any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips, the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer's records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee. Subsequently, the tipped rate will adjust in accordance with the federal minimum tipped rate as prescribed by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(a)(1). No employer shall use all or part of any tips or gratuities received by employees toward the payment of the minimum wage. (KRS 337.275(2)) No employer shall require an employee to remit to the employer any gratuity, or any portion thereof, except for the purpose of withholding amounts required by federal or state law. No employer shall require an employee to participate in a tip pool whereby the employee is required to remit to the pool any gratuity, or any portion thereof, for distribution among employees of the employer. Employees may voluntarily enter into an agreement to divide gratuities among themselves. The employer may inform the employees of the existence of a voluntary pool and the customary tipping arrangements of the employees at the establishment. Upon petition by the participants in the voluntary pool, and at the employer's own option and expense, an employer may provide custodial services for the safekeeping of funds placed in the pool if the account is properly identified and segregated from the other business records and open to examination by pool participants.

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.010 (2) Definition of employee
KRS 337.275 (2) Minimum Wage
KRS 337.065 Tip Pooling
803 KAR 1:080 Board, lodging, gratuities and other allowances

 
PAYMENT OF WAGE REQUIREMENT
Every employer doing business in this state shall, as often as semimonthly, pay to each of its employees all wages or salary earned to a day not more than eighteen (18) days prior to the date of that payment. Any employee who is absent at the time fixed for payment, or who, for any other reason, is not paid at that time, shall be paid thereafter at any time upon six (6) days' demand. No employer subject to this section shall, by any means, secure exemption from it. Every such employee shall have a right of action against any such employer for the full amount of his wages due on each regular pay day.

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.020 Time of payment of wages
KRS 337.275 Minimum wage
KRS 337.285 Overtime wage
KRS 337.010 (2) (a) 2. Exceptions
KRS 337.060 Illegal deductions

FINAL PAYMENT OF WAGE REQUIREMENT
Any employee who leaves or is discharged from employment shall be paid in full all wages or salary earned not later than the next normal pay period following the date of dismissal or voluntary leaving or fourteen (14) days following such date of dismissal or voluntary leaving whichever last occurs. No employer shall, by any means, secure exemption from this requirement.

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.055 Payment of all wages or salary upon dismissal or voluntary leaving required
KRS 337.060 Illegal deductions

PAYMENT OF COST OF MEDICAL EXAM OR RECORDS
It shall be unlawful for any employer to require any employee or applicant for employment to pay the cost of a medical examination or the cost of furnishing any records required by the employer as a condition of employment.

For additional information, select the link below:

KRS 336.220 Payment of costs of medical exam or records

ILLEGAL DEDUCTIONS
No employer shall withhold from any employee's wages any part of the agreed wage rate; unless
(a) the employer is required to do so by local, state, or federal law
(b) when a deduction is expressly authorized in writing by the employee to cover insurance premiums, hospital, or medical dues
(c) other deductions not amounting to a rebate or deduction from the standard wage arrived at by collective bargaining or pursuant to wage agreement or statute
(d) deductions for union dues where such deductions are authorized by joint wage agreements or collective bargaining contracts negotiated between employers and employees or their representatives.

No employer shall deduct the following from the wages of employees:
(a) Fines
(b) Cash shortages in a common money till, cash box or register used by two (2) or more persons
(c) Breakage
(d) Losses due to acceptance by an employee of checks which are subsequently dishonored if such employee is given discretion to accept or reject any check
(e) Losses due to defective or faulty workmanship, lost or stolen property, damage to property, default of customer credit or nonpayment for goods or services received by the customer if such losses are not attributable to employee's willful or intentional disregard of employer's interest

For additional information, select a link below:

KRS 337.060 Unlawful for employer to withhold wages
KRS 336.220 Payment of costs of medical exam or records
803 KAR 1:080 Section 2(3) Board, lodging, gratuities and other allowances

OVERTIME
No employer shall employ any employee for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for employment in excess of forty hours in a workweek at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the hourly rate employed. This section does not apply to employees of retail stores engaged in work connected with selling, purchasing and distributing merchandise, wares, goods, articles or commodities, or to employees of restaurant, hotel and motel operations, to employees as defined and exempted from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act in sections 213(b)(1), 213(b)(10) and 213(b)(17) of Title 29, U.S.C.

For additional information on overtime requirements, select a link below:

KRS 337.285 Time and a half for employment in excess of forty hours
KRS 337.010 (2) Definition of employee
803 KAR 1:060 Overtime pay requirements
803 KAR 1:065 Hours worked
803 KAR 1:070 Salaried exempt
803 KAR 1:075 Exclusions from minimum wage and overtime
803 KAR 1:080 Board, lodging gratuities and other allowances
FLSA http://www.dol.gov/dol/esa/public/regs/statutes/whd/0002.fair.pdf

SEVENTH DAY OVERTIME
Any employer who permits any employee to work seven days in any one workweek shall pay the rate of time and a half for the time worked on the seventh day. The above shall not apply in any case in which the employee is not permitted to work more than forty hours during the workweek; or to telephone exchanges having less than five hundred subscribers; stenographers, bookkeepers or technical assistants of professions such as doctors, accountants, lawyers and other professions licensed under the laws of this state; employees subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act and seamen or persons engaged in operating boats or other water transportation facilities upon navigable streams; persons engaged in icing railroad cars; common carriers under the supervision of the Department of Vehicle Regulation; and any officer, superintendent, foreman or supervisor whose duties are principally limited to directing or supervising other employees.

For additional information, select the link below:

KRS 337.050 Time and a half for work done on seventh day of week

RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS
Every employer subject to the provisions of the Kentucky Minimum Wage Law shall make and preserve records containing the following information:
(a) Name and address of each employee
(b) Hours worked each day and each week by each employee
(c) Regular hourly rate of pay
(d) Overtime hourly rate of pay for hours in excess of forty hours in a workweek
(e) Additions to cash wages at cost, or deductions (meals, board, lodging, etc.) from stipulated wages in the amount deducted, or at cost of the item for which deductions are made
(f) Total wages paid for each workweek and date of payment.
Such records shall be kept on file for at least one year after entry. No particular form or order is prescribed for these records provided that the information required is easily obtainable for inspection purposes

For additional information on recordkeeping requirements, select a link below:

KRS 337.320 Record to be kept by employer
KRS 339.400 Employer's child labor register
803 KAR 1:066 Recordkeeping requirements
803 KAR 1:080 Section 4 Board, lodging, gratuities and other allowances

PERFORMANCE BOND REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYER ENGAGED IN CONSTRUCTION WORK, OR THE SEVERANCE, PREPARATION, OR TRANSPORTATION OF MINERALS.
Except for employers who have been doing business in the state for five (5) consecutive years, every employer engaged in construction work, or the severance, preparation, or transportation of minerals, shall furnish on a form prescribed by the commissioner a performance bond to assure the payment of all wages due from the employer. Surety for the bond shall be an amount of money equal to the employer's gross payroll operating at full capacity for four (4) weeks. Any employee whose wages are secured by a bond may obtain payment of those wages, liquidated damages, and attorney's fees as provided by law on presentation to the commissioner of a final judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction. The bond may be terminated, with the approval of the commissioner, on submission of the employer's statement, lawfully administered under oath, that the employer has ceased doing business in the state and that all due wages have been paid.

For additional information, select the link below:

KRS 337.200 Performance Bond

 

Division of Employment Standards, Apprenticeship and Mediation
Suite 4, 1047 U.S. Highway 127 South
Frankfort KY 40601
Phone: 502-564-3070
Fax: 502-564-2248
E-mail: Division of Employment Standards, Apprenticeship and Mediation