Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Kentucky, Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Kentucky's minimum wage law is codified in the Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated at Title XXVII, Chapter 337. The full text of the law is available beginning at Wages-Hours ¶18-41,001 .
DEFINITIONS
“Employer” is any person, either individual, corporation, partnership, agency, or firm who employs an employee and includes any person, either individual, corporation, partnership, agency, or firm acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee (Sec. 337.010, as amended by Ch. 154 (S. 139), L. 1998).
“Employee” is any person employed by or suffered or permitted to work for an employer, but does not include (Sec. 337.010, as amended by Ch. 154 (S. 139), L. 1998):
agricultural employees;
executive, administrative, supervisory, or professional employees; or outside salespersons or collectors;
employees of the United States;
domestics employed in private homes, except where there is more than one domestic servant regularly employed;
learners, apprentices, workers with disabilities, sheltered workshop employees, and students, as classified by the Commissioner of Workplace Standards, who issues certificates authorizing employment at subminimum wages;
retail store, service industry, hotel, motel, and restaurant operations (whose average annual gross volume of sales is less than $95,000 for the five preceding years exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level) employees or employees employed by immediate family members;
babysitters in employers' homes, or companions to sick, convalescing, or elderly persons whose principal duties do not include housekeeping;
persons who deliver newspapers to consumers;
emergency employees subject to regulation by the Secretary of the Personnel Cabinet or others who receive overtime pay rates as necessary for the efficient operation of government and the protection of affected employees;
employees of organized nonprofit camps, religious or nonprofit educational conference centers that do not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year; or
employees whose function is to provide 24-hour residential care on an employer's premises in a parental role to children who are primarily dependent, neglected and abused and who are in the care of private, nonprofit child care facilities licensed by the Cabinet for Human Resources.
COVERAGE
All employees, except those in certain occupations as explained below, are covered by Kentucky's minimum wage law.
EXCEPTIONS
Agricultural employees; executive; administrative, supervisory, or professional employees; outside salespersons or collectors; federal employees; domestics; learners, apprentices, workers with disabilities in sheltered workshops and students; retail store, service industry, hotel, motel, and restaurant operation employees; babysitters; companions; newspaper deliverypersons; emergency employees; and camp employees, are not covered by Kentucky's minimum wage law.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
Effective July 1, 2008, the minimum wage is $6.55 per hour. Effective July 1, 2009, the minimum wage will be $7.25 per hour. If the federal minimum hourly wage is increased in excess of Kentucky's minimum wage, then Kentucky's minimum wage shall be increased to the same amount, effective on the same date as the federal minimum hourly wage rate. If the state minimum hourly wage is increased to the federal minimum hourly wage, it shall include only the federal minimum hourly rate prescribed in 29 USC Sec. 206(a)(1), and shall not include other wage rates, or conditions, exclusions, or exceptions to the federal minimum hourly wage rate. In addition, the increase to the federal minimum hourly wage rate does not extend or modify the scope or coverage of the minimum wage rate required under this chapter (Sec. 337.275(1), as amended by Ch. 69 (H. 305), L. 2007, effective June 26, 2007).
Tipped employee credit.- For an employee engaged in an occupation who customarily and regularly receives more than $30.00 per month in tips from patrons or others, an employer may pay as a minimum not less than the hourly wage rate required to be paid a tipped employee under the federal minimum wage law. The employer must establish by its records that for each week where credit is taken, when adding tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum rate was received by the employee. No employer may use all or part of any tips or gratuities received by employees toward the payment of the statutory minimum hourly wage. The tip allowance provision does not prevent employees from entering into an agreement to divide tips or gratuities among themselves (Sec. 337.275(2)).
Employers may not require employees to remit any gratuity, except for the purpose of withholding amounts required by federal or state law. Also, employers may not require employees to participate in tip pool arrangements, but employees may voluntarily agree to divide gratuities among themselves. An employer may inform employees of the existence of a voluntary pool and the customary tipping arrangements of the employees at the establishment. The pool participants may petition the employer to safeguard the funds, at its option and expense, if the account is properly identified and segregated from its other business records and open to examination by pool participants (Sec. 337.065, as amended by S. 225, L. 1996).
Wages-special circumstances.- Any employer that permits any employee to work seven days in any one workweek must pay the employee at the rate of time and a half for the time worked on the seventh day, except in cases in which the employee is not permitted to work more than 40 hours during the workweek. In that case, the employer may credit against the overtime payable under the seventh-day rule any overtime paid to the employees for the same hours under the requirements of any other law or contract (Sec. 337.050).
The seventh-day rule does not apply to telephone exchanges having less than 500 subscribers; nor to stenographers, bookkeepers, or technical assistants of licensed professionals; nor to any employees subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act and seamen or persons engaged in operating boats or other water transportation facilities upon navigable streams; nor to persons engaged in icing railroad cars; nor to common carriers under the supervision of the Department of Vehicle Regulation (Sec. 337.050).
Subminimum wages.- Individuals classified and given a certificate by the Commissioner of Workplace Standards showing a status of learner, apprentice, worker with a disability, sheltered workshop employee, and student may be employed at a subminimum wage for a fixed period of time (Sec. 337.010, as amended by Ch. 154 (S. 139), L. 1998).
Collective bargaining.- Nothing in Kentucky's minimum wage law interferes with, impedes, or in any way diminishes the right of employees to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing in order to establish wages in excess of the applicable minimum (Sec. 337.405)
Louisville living wage.- The Metro Government must pay no less than $11.00 per hour to its full-time employees. Preference shall also be given to Metro Government contractors who pay their employees at least $11.00 per hour (Ordinance No. 91, Series 2003, approved May 16, 2003, amended effective July 1, 2006).
NOTICE
Every employer subject to Kentucky's minimum wage law, regulations, or orders must keep copies of summaries of wage and hour laws and regulations posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the workplace. Employers will be furnished copies of the summaries, orders and regulations by the state, on request, without charge. However, the failure to mail the summaries to an employer does not relieve the employer from the duty of complying with the posting provision (Sec. 337.325).
ENFORCEMENT
The Commissioner of Workplace Standards, under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Labor Cabinet, administers and enforces the minimum wage law.
Investigatory authority.- Every employer must permit the Secretary of the Labor Cabinet or an authorized agent to question any of its employees in the place of employment and during work hours in respect to the wages paid to and the hours worked by the employees (Sec. 337.340).
Confidential records.- The Labor Cabinet may not disclose the identity of any individual filing a complaint or request for inspection under Kentucky's minimum wage law, except as necessary for enforcement, and then only with the specific written permission of the complainant (Sec. 337.345).
Information secured from inspection of the records or from inspection of the employer's premises by the Secretary of the Labor Cabinet or an authorized representative will be held confidential and will not be disclosed or be open to any person. However, information may be made available to officials who administer laws under the secretary's jurisdiction; other state or federal agencies that enforce provisions of the minimum wage law; and the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (Sec. 337.345).
Court actions.- At the written request of an employee paid less than the amount to which the employee is entitled under Kentucky's minimum wage law, the Secretary of the Labor Cabinet may take an assignment of the wage claim in trust for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary to collect the claim. The employer will be required to pay costs and reasonable attorney's fees (Sec. 337.385).
An employer that pays an employee less than the wages to which the employee is entitled will be liable to the affected employee for the full amount of the wages, less any amount actually paid, for an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, and for costs and reasonable attorney's fees (Sec. 337.385).
However, if the employer shows to the satisfaction of the court that the act or omission giving rise to the action was in good faith and that it had reasonable grounds for believing that it was not in violation of the law, the court may not award liquidated damages. Any agreement between the employee and the employer to work for less than the applicable wage rate is not a defense to the action (Sec. 337.385).
WHO TO CONTACT
Contact the Office of Workplace Standards at 1047 U.S. Highway 127 South, Suite 4, Frankfort, KY 40601. Telephone: (502) 564-3070. Fax: (502) 564-5387. E-mail: ky.wkstds@ky.gov
RECORDKEEPING
Every employer must keep a record of the amount paid each pay period to each employee; the hours worked each day and each week by each employee; and any other information required by the Secretary of the Labor Cabinet. These records must be kept on file for at least one year after entry (Sec. 337.320).
Open records.- The records must be open to the inspection and transcript of the commissioner or an authorized representative at any reasonable time. Every employer must furnish to the secretary or an authorized representative on demand a sworn statement of them. The secretary may require the statement to be upon forms prescribed or approved by him or her (Sec. 337.320).
POSTING
Every employer subject to Kentucky's minimum wage law, regulations, or orders must keep copies of summaries of wage and hour laws and regulations posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the workplace. Employers will be furnished copies of the summaries, orders and regulations by the state, on request, without charge. However, the failure to mail the summaries to an employer does not relieve the employer from the duty of complying with the posting provision (Sec. 337.325).
PENALTIES
Wage violations.- Any employer that pays or agrees to pay wages at a rate less than the applicable minimum wage rate, or any wage order, will be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $100 nor more than one $1,000 (Sec. 337.990).
After all administrative and judicial appeals have been exhausted, a 10-year lien may be placed against all real and personal property of employers that have not paid wage and hour civil penalties (Sec. 337.075).
Any employer that violates compensation provisions for the seventh day of work will be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000.
Records violations.- Any employer that violates the recordkeeping and posting provisions of the minimum wage law or fails to keep and preserve any required records, or falsifies any record, or refuses to make any record or transcription accessible to the commissioner or an authorized representative, will be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 337.990).
Interference with enforcement.- Any employer that willfully hinders or delays the commissioner or an authorized representative in the performance of their enforcement duties will be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 337.990).
Discrimination.- Any employer that discharges or in any other manner discriminates against an employee because the employee has made any complaint to his or her employer, to the commissioner, or to an authorized representative that the employee has not been paid wages in accordance with the minimum wage law, or its regulations, or because the employee has caused to be instituted or is about to cause to be instituted any enforcement proceeding under, or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, will be in violation of the minimum wage law and will be assessed a civil penalty of not less than one $100 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 337.990).
<p>Discrimination.— Any employer that discharges or in any other manner discriminates against an employee because the employee has made any complaint to his or her</p>