Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Kansas, Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Kansas' minimum wage law is codified in the Kansas Statutes Annotated at Chapter 44, Article 12.
DEFINITIONS
“Employer” means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include employers who are subject to the provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (Sec. 44-1202).
“Employee” means any individual employed by an employer, but does not include (Sec. 44-1202):
agricultural employees;
domestic service employees working at private homes;
executive, administrative or professional employees;
outside commission-paid salespersons;
employees of the United States;
volunteers for nonprofit organizations;
persons 18 years of age or less who are employed on an occasional or part-time basis; or
school district employees working in an executive, administrative or professional capacity 50 percent or more of their working time.
“Occasional or part-time basis” means any employee working less than 40 hours per week. Students 18 years of age and under working between academic terms are considered part-time employees regardless of the number of hours worked (Sec. 44-1202).
COVERAGE
All employers and employees, except those specifically exempted from the law, are covered by Kansas' minimum wage law. However, Kansas' minimum wage provision does not apply to any employers and employees that are covered under the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (Sec. 44-1203). Effective January 1, 2010, Kansas' minimum wage provision does not apply to employers and employees who are covered under the provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C.A. 201 et seq.) (Sec. 44-1203, as amended by Ch. 115 (S.B. 160), L. 2009, enacted April 23, 2009).
EXCEPTIONS
Agricultural employees; domestics; executive, administrative or professional employees; outside, commission-paid salespersons; federal employees; volunteers; part-timers; school district employees working in an executive, administrative or professional capacity, are not covered by Kansas' minimum wage law.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
Every employer must pay to each covered employee wages at a rate of not less than $2.65 an hour, except as provided below (Sec. 44-1203). Effective January 1, 2010, every employer must pay to each covered employee a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour (Sec. 44-1203, as amended by Ch. 115 (S.B. 160), L. 2009, enacted April 23, 2009).
Lawrence tax abatement ordinance.- The City of Lawrence has established “wage floor and health insurance requirements” as part of an ordinance relating to tax abatements and incentives for economic development. The city will grant a tax abatement to a business that meets the legal requirements for a tax abatement and that indicates in their application that they will fully comply with the following qualifying requirements:
the business is environmentally sound;
the business is small or medium in size;
the business pays all employees in the abated project an average wage per employment category that meets or exceeds the average in the community as determined annually by the Kansas Department of Human Resources Wage Survey;
the business pays all covered employees a wage, at or above, an amount that is equal to 130% of the federal poverty threshold for a family of three, as established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
the business provides one of the following: (a) the availability of covered employees to obtain an employer-sponsored health insurance policy, pursuant to employer guidelines, in which case the employer provides a minimum of 70% of the cost of such policy; or (b) as an alternative to offering an employer-sponsored health insurance policy, the employer shall pay the covered employee a wage that is at least $1.50 per hour above the amount required in item (4) just above;
the proposed project and tax abatement results in a combined positive cost-benefit ratio of 1:1.25 or greater over a 15-year period as determined by the city-adopted economic econometric model to keep the overall property tax rate as low as possible.
The requirements summarized in items (5) and (6) just above may be referred to as the “wage floor and health insurance requirements” of this ordinance. The wage floor requirements shall be annually adjusted pursuant to the release of statistical information from the federal government, and the city shall notify in writing the businesses receiving a tax abatement, which are affected by the wage floor requirements. For 2009, the wage floor is $11.44 per hour (Memo, City of Lawrence, Department of Administrative Services, from Frank S. Reeb, Administrative Services Director/City Clerk, to David L. Corliss, City Manager, dated January 29, 2009) . These requirements shall apply to all employees of a business receiving a tax abatement at the specific real estate receiving the tax abatement, with the exception of a business that has Lawrence operations prior to the granting of a tax abatement in which case the wage floor and health insurance requirements shall apply to all employees in the abated project. Previous wage floor amounts since inception of Ordinance 7706: Year 2003, $9.53; 2004, $9.79; 2005, $10.06; 2006, $10.38; 2007, $10.73; 2008, $11.00.
The wage floor and health insurance requirements shall not apply to the following employees:
employees employed in a bona fide or certified job training program for no more than 60 calendar days (once per employee);
temporary employees working fewer than 100 hours per calender year;
employees with the status of student seasonal workers hired for not to exceed 90 calendar days;
employees of not-for-profit organizations.
Covered employees would not include subcontractors whose work is only incidental to plant operations. Suppliers, raw goods/material suppliers, landscape companies, construction contractors, delivery employees shall not be covered employees.
The wage floor and health insurance requirements shall not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides a wage higher than the requirements of this ordinance (Ordinance No. 7706, adopted October 28, 2003).
Board and lodging.- The Secretary of Human Resources will adopt rules and regulations to safeguard the minimum wage rates established by the minimum wage law. The rules and regulations may include, but are not limited to, regulations on allowances as part of the wage rates for board, lodging and gratuities; other facilities or services furnished by employers and used by employees; and other special items usual in particular employer-employee relationships (Sec. 44-1207).
Tipped employee credit.- In calculating the minimum wage rate, an employer may include tips and gratuities received by an employee in an amount not to exceed 40 percent of the minimum wage rate, if the tips and gratuities have customarily constituted part of the employee's wages and if the employee actually received and retained them. The Secretary of Human Resources requires each employer desiring approval of an allowance for gratuities to provide substantial evidence of the amounts on which the employer has taken an allowance (Sec. 44-1203). Effective January 1, 2010, in calculating the minimum wage rate, an employer may include tips and gratuities received by an employee if the tips and gratuities have customarily constituted part of the remuneration of the employee and if the affected employee actually received and retained such tips and gratuities. For employees receiving tips and gratuities, employers must pay a minimum wage of at least $2.13 per hour. If the minimum wage rate plus tips and gratuities received by the employee do not equal at least $7.25 per hour, then the employer must pay the employee the difference between $7.25 per hour and the actual combined amounts received (Sec. 44-1203(b), as amended by Ch. 115 (S.B. 160), L. 2009, enacted April 23, 2009). The term “Tips and gratuities customarily constitute part of the remuneration,” means an employee has received tips and gratuities in a calendar month that exceeds $20 (Kansas Administrative Code, R. 49-30-1(r)).
Subminimum wages.- In order to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment, avoid undue hardship and safeguard the minimum wage, the Secretary of Human Resources also may adopt rules and regulations providing for the employment of “handicapped” workers or patient laborers at state institutions or hospitals at wages lower than the applicable wage rates for certain periods of time. The secretary may also provide for the employment of learners and apprentices at subminimum wage rates, under permits and subject to number, proportion, length-of-learning period, and occupation limitations (Sec. 44-1207).
Collective bargaining.- Nothing in Kansas' minimum wage law interferes with, impedes or in any way diminishes the right of employees to bargain collectively with their employers, through representatives of their own choosing, in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess of the applicable minimum requirements of the minimum wage law (Sec. 44-1213).
ENFORCEMENT
The Secretary of Human Resources administers and enforces Kansas' minimum wage law.
Investigatory authority.- Only upon receipt of a written complaint from an employee who alleges to have been aggrieved under the minimum wage provisions may the secretary or an authorized representative enter and inspect any place of business or employment in Kansas. This authority includes the power to examine, inspect and copy all books, registers, payrolls and other records that in any way relate to wages and hours and the power to question employees (Sec. 44-1206).
Court actions.- At the written request of an employee who has been paid less than the amount to which he or she is entitled under the minimum wage law, the secretary 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 attorneys' fees (Sec. 44-1211).
Employee's remedies.- An employer that pays an employee less than the minimum wages to which the employee is entitled is liable to that employee for the full amount of wages, less any amount actually paid, and for costs and reasonable attorney fees. 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. 44-1211).
WHO TO CONTACT
Contact the Kansas Department of Labor, 401 SW Topeka Boulevard, Topeka, KS 66603-3182. Telephone: (785) 296-5000. Division of Employment Standards, 1430 SW Topeka Blvd, Topeka, KS 66612. Telephone: (785) 296-4062.
RECORDKEEPING
Every employer subject to Kansas' minimum wage law or regulations must make and keep records in the workplace for not less than three years that show the name and occupation of each employee, the rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period to each employee, the hours worked each day and each workweek by each employee and other information as may be prescribed by rules and regulations as being necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the law (Sec. 44-1209).
Records kept and maintained by employers covered under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act meet the employer's recordkeeping requirement under Kansas law (Sec. 44-1209).
Open records.- The employer's wage and hour records must be open for inspection or transcription by the Secretary of Human Resources or an authorized representative at any reasonable time (Sec. 44-1209).
PENALTIES
Wage violations.- Any employer that is convicted of violating any provision of Kansas' minimum wage law will be fined not less than $250 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 44-1210).
Records violations.- Any employer that is convicted of violating any recordkeeping provision of Kansas' minimum wage law, or falsifying any records, will be fined not less than $250 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 44-1210).
Discrimination.- Any employer that discharges or in any other manner discriminates against an employee because the employee made a complaint to his or her employer or the secretary, or to the authorized representative of the secretary, that he or she has not been paid wages in accordance with Kansas' minimum wage law or regulations, or because the employee initiated any minimum wage proceeding or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in such a proceeding, will be in violation of the law, and, on conviction, will be fined not less than $250 nor more than $1,000 (Sec. 44-1210).
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