Overtime Pay Law Summaries
Kansas, Overtime Pay Law Summaries
Kansas' overtime pay law is codified in the Kansas Statutes Annotated at Chapter 44, Article 12. The full text of this law is available beginning at Wages-Hours ¶17-41,001.
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.
COVERAGE
All employers and employees, except those specifically exempted from the law (see below), are covered by Kansas' overtime pay law (Sec. 44-1203).
Additionally, Kansas' overtime pay law does not apply to the employment of employees covered under overtime pay provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act; motor vehicle salespersons; or prisoners (Sec. 44-1204).
EXCEPTIONS
Agricultural employees; domestics; executive, administrative or professional employees; outside, commission-paid salespersons; federal employees; volunteers; part-timers; and school district employees working in an executive, administrative or professional capacity, are not covered by Kansas' overtime pay law.
Additionally, Kansas' overtime pay law does not apply to the employment of (Sec. 44-1204):
employees covered under overtime pay provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act;
employees who are primarily engaged in selling motor vehicles for nonmanufacturing employers that sell the vehicles to ultimate purchasers; or
prisoners in the custody of the Secretary of Corrections and prisoners serving sentences in county jails.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
No employer may employ an employee for a workweek longer than 46 hours, unless the employee receives compensation in excess of 46 hours at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the employee's hourly wage rate, except as provided below (Sec. 44-1204).
Board and lodging.- The Secretary of Human Resources will adopt rules and regulations to safeguard the overtime rates established by the overtime pay 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).
Overtime-special circumstances.- Special overtime compensation rules apply to emergency medical service personnel, firefighters, and law enforcement personnel. No employer violates Kansas' overtime pay provision with respect to their employment if they are paid compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rate in any work period of 28 consecutive days in which they work for tours of duty over 258 hours. Or, in the case of employees to whom a work period of at least seven but less than 28 days applies, in any work period in which the employee works for tours of duty which in the aggregate exceed a number of hours that bears the same ratio to the number of consecutive days in the work period as 258 hours bears to 28 days (Sec. 44-1204).
This rule covers employees engaged in the public or private delivery of emergency medical services (as crash injury management technicians, emergency medical technicians or mobile intensive care technicians), in fire protection or law enforcement activities, (including security personnel in correctional institutions) (Sec. 44-1204).
The agreement or practice by fire protection or law enforcement employees of substituting for one another on regularly scheduled tours of duty, or on parts of a tour, does not have any effect on hours of work, if the substitution is voluntary (not at the employer's behest), so that the employees may attend to personal matters; the employer maintains records of substituted time; and the period during which time is substituted and paid back is not over 12 months (Sec. 44-1204).
Collective bargaining.- Nothing in Kansas' overtime pay 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 requirements of the overtime pay law (Sec. 44-1213).
ENFORCEMENT
The Secretary of Human Resources administers and enforces Kansas' overtime pay law.
Investigatory authority.- Only upon receipt of a written complaint from an employee who alleges to have been aggrieved under the overtime pay provisions may the Secretary of Human Resources 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 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 overtime pay 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 wages and overtime compensation to which the employee is entitled is liable to that employee for the full amount of wages and overtime compensation, 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 Secretary of Human Resources, 401 SW Topeka Blvd., Topeka, KS 66603-3182. Telephone: (913) 296-7474. Fax: (913) 296-0179.
RECORDKEEPING
Every employer subject to Kansas' overtime pay 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' overtime pay 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' overtime pay 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 of Human Resources, or to the authorized representative of the secretary, that he or she has not been paid wages in accordance with Kansas' overtime pay law or regulations, or because the employee initiated any overtime pay proceeding or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in any such 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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