Kentucky Labor Laws Overview
Kentucky state labor laws are statutes that govern the relationship between workers and employers in the Commonwealth. These laws were enacted by the state legislature and regulate various aspects of employment, such as wages, hours of work, and other workplace standards. Understanding labor laws in Kentucky is essential for both employees and employers to familiarize themselves with their respective rights and obligations. Labor laws typically apply to private, non-government employers and cover a broad range of issues in the workplace. A significant portion of these laws govern the rights of employees to receive certain basic benefits from their employment , such as the right to earn minimum wage, the right to overtime pay, and the right to medical and family leave. Other laws require an employer to bargain in good faith with a recognized employee union before implementing certain workplace policies, such as mandatory overtime or drug testing. In addition, disparate treatment laws prohibit employers from terminating or demoting employees for engaging in a protected status or activity, such as reporting discrimination or sexual harassment.
Minimum Wage and Overtime
Kentucky follows the federal minimum wage as of 2019 at $7.25 per hour. Tip employees who are earning tips in accordance with the law are not covered by the minimum wage requirement so long as they are being paid a cash wage from their employer of at least $2.13 per hour. However, the employee must be performing work that customarily pays tips, such as waiting tables or tending bar. For tipped employees, the employer can take a tip credit which is the difference between the direct wages paid to the employee and the mandated minimum wage.
As of June 2019, Kentucky overtime regulations mandate that overtime be paid at the rate of 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate after 40 hours, as is required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Kentucky overtime regulations, however, differ from federal law in their requirements for employees who travel away from home. Under the federal FLSA, employees traveling away from home do not earn 1.5 time overtime until they have worked 40 hours in a single workweek. Under Kentucky law, however, an employee is eligible for earned overtime at the 1.5 rate any time he or she has worked more than 8 hours in a single workday, assuming this does not work in contradiction to the FLSA or other applicable state or federal laws.
The state of Kentucky also has enacted a law, KRS 337.285, that mandates severance pay for certain employees who work for an employer with at least 200 employees or who are employed at a facility with at least 200 employees. Because there is a significant amount of litigation surrounding this statute, it is important that employers with 50 or more employees consult with counsel to determine whether they must provide severance pay, what policy the company should adopt and what the mechanics of the program will be.
Kentucky does allow employers to provide compensatory time off in lieu of paying the standard straight-time pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a given workweek. This compensation time is provided at the employee’s usual rate of pay, and it must be taken within 65 days from the end of the week when the overtime was earned. (KRS 337.285)
Discrimination in the Workplace
Workplace discrimination laws in Kentucky are governed by state and federal anti-discrimination laws. Under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act (KRS 344), it is illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age (40 or over), or if you are a qualified disabled individual. Kentucky law generally follows federal anti-discrimination law meaning that one can file both a federal charge and a state charge.
Notably, age can be a protected class. Employers cannot discriminate against employees or applicants over the age of 40. As such, it is illegal for employers to retire someone simply because they reached the age of retirement. Similarly, if an employer has a policy that 40 year old or older are subject to layoff or discharge, that would violate Kentucky law as well.
Kentucky law additionally makes it illegal for an employer to retaliate (not hire, fire, demote, harass, interfere or otherwise discriminate in any manner) against an employee who has made a charge related to discrimination.
Rights of Employees
Kentucky labor laws provide a range of rights and protections for workers in the state. By understanding these laws, employees can be more informed about their entitlements.
Pay Periods
All Kentucky employers, regardless of the number of employees, must pay their workers at least once every two weeks. The exception to this rule is public employers that pay their employees monthly. The employer must pay employees by a type of payment that workers can access without incurring any cost, such as cash, check or direct deposit. Employers may not withhold or deduct wages without permission from the employee unless a specific law allows this deduction.
Breaks
Employers in Kentucky must provide non-exempt employees with 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours they work. This time is considered paid time, meaning the employer must pay the employee for the duration of the break. None of these breaks provided by the employer can exceed 10 minutes, however. Many employers in Kentucky follow the federal break policy and do not provide any breaks to employees who are 18 years or older.
Lactation Breaks
Kentucky employers are required to provide reasonable breaks to all employees who are nursing their children. These breaks must be sufficient to allow the employee to express milk comfortably. Employers are permitted to charge the employee for this time if the employee was not authorized to otherwise be absent from work, such as through a lunch or break period.
Working Hours
Generally, there is no law in Kentucky restricting how many hours an employee can work during a given week. However, employers may have to pay employees overtime hours for any work exceeding 40 hours in a week, unless the employee falls under an exemption.
Occupational Safety and Health
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration provides Kentucky workers with a safe workplace, free from any recognized hazards that could cause serious physical harm. Employers are responsible for being familiar with OSHA regulations and ensuring that they adhere to and maintain these standards within the workplace.
Child Labor
Reputable employers in Kentucky do not employ workers under the age of 13. The minimum working age for minors who are 14 or 15 years old is 14 hours per day for jobs not in school and seven hours per day for minors in school. Generally, minors younger than 18 years may not work more than 40 hours in one week.
Termination of Employment
Like the majority of U.S. states, Kentucky has adopted the employment-at-will doctrine, which allows employers to terminate employees for any reason not otherwise prohibited against such as an employee’s race, color, religion, age, disability, sex, or national origin. Moreover, if an employee is a member of a union, his/her termination may be precluded by the contract negotiated by the union. Lastly, if an employee has an employment contract or is a non-classified state employee, his/her termination must be handled according to the contract terms or the personnel cabinet rules, respectively.
Nevertheless, employers may face claims of wrongful termination based on anti-discrimination laws as well as other potential bases like retaliatory discharge for exercising rights provided by Kentucky’s worker’s compensation or unemployment statutes.
At the federal level, certain laws prohibit employers from terminating employees based on the fact that they exercise rights protected by those laws. An employee who has been working at a company longer than a year and is terminated after acquiring a disabling injury while performing his/her job duties may be covered under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act because the act guarantees unpaid leave for an employee to care for himself/herself or an ill family member. Under the Act, an employer may not terminate an employee for the length of leave. On a similar note, the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act prohibits employers from terminating a service member on military leave , or denying reemployment for up to five years in certain situations.
The foregoing are not the only potential bases for a wrongful termination claim, however. Wrongful discharges may also stem from contractual breaches, where an employee has a signed employment contract covering the terms of his/her employment.
Over the years, Kentucky courts have identified a number of public policy exceptions, which nonetheless infringes on the at-will doctrine. In Turner v. Jordan, the Supreme Court of Kentucky stated, "If an employer discharges his employee, despite the employee’s efforts to report the misconduct of the employer, and that indictment is brought, and a conviction is had, then the ‘public policy’ exception [to at-will employment] would be applicable to prevent the employer’s harm to the public." Accordingly, public policy exceptions to the at-will doctrine have generally been recognized by Kentucky Courts as they are "limited to three general categories [(i.e. discrimination, judicial whistleblowing or Kentucky statutes)]."
Lastly, the Kentucky whistleblower protection laws protect employees from interference when filing a complaint with the court or governmental agency against the employer related to the employers practices, disclosing or threatening to disclose violations of health and safety regulations, or refusing to engage in actual or planned violations of health and safety regulations.
Leave Laws
Federal statutes such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may govern an employee’s leave entitlement in both the public and private sectors. Passed in 1993, the FMLA allows qualifying employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for serious health conditions, birth, adoption or foster care purposes, or to care for a spouse, adult child, parent or other covered relative. The FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees that work within a 75-mile radius, and employees who have worked these 12 months and accrued 1,250 hours or more of service. The leave must be taken for one of the purposes specified in the statute, but is not required to be paid.
In addition to the coverage established by the FMLA, Kentucky employers must also comply with Kentucky Labor Cabinet regulations, and family leave laws passed by the Kentucky General Assembly. KRS 337.011(2)(g) defines "family leave" or "medical leave" as an "employer-provided, unpaid leave of absence for purposes of caring for a newborn infant or adopted or foster child . . . or a seriously ill family member [that] includes any necessary absence from work for a medical appointment." Additionally, private employers must comply with the newborn infant care act (NICA), which is designed to protect employees in the private sector who require leave to care for a newborn.
Kentucky law does not provide for a separate state family or medical leave program; however, some Kentucky employers provide employees with leave benefits that exceed those required by the federal FMLA.
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation is a form of disability insurance required by Kentucky law to provide compensation for any employee suffering from a work-related injury, medical conditions, and disease. Because this insurance is mandated by law, employees are automatically covered. Employers are required to carry insurance coverage for their employees. Part of the employer’s role is to educate their employees on any information regarding their workers’ compensation.
Workers’ Compensation is applicable for those who are employees of a company, working in the state of Kentucky, and injured during work. The following categories are covered: 1) disabled while performing job duties; 2) disabled while performing duties "somewhere between" or "in the course of" work duties; 3) disabled while engaged in a task that will cause the company benefit. Fatal results are also covered under the Workmen’s Compensation laws in Kentucky.
In addition to this overview of worker’s compensation, the Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Act provides occupational disease coverage for employees who are disabled due to work-related diseases. Employees seeking workers’ compensation benefits may be entitled to temporary total disability (TTD) benefits, which require the disabling injury to prevent the individual from performing any type of employment. There is also Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) and Permanent Total Disability (PTD). However, permanent disability benefits are only available if the employee is deemed completely unemployed or unable to earn wages, and also medically deprived of more than a negligible wage. Medical benefits are also provided in the form of reasonable expenses for medical care, surgical procedures, hospitalization, nursing, and supplies or appliances for any work-related injury.
How to Make a Labor Complaint
Often employers violate state or federal labor laws and it is up to the employee to be educated about their rights and to file a complaint. Employees should first try to address issues directly with their employer. For example, employees should tell the employer that they believe they are receiving less than minimum wage or not getting the proper overtime wages. Employees should also ask to receive their occupational safety and health rights. Failure of an employer to respect these things is often enough to file a complaint as it is a violation of federal law in most cases. Note that there may be time limits that begin to run immediately and that can bar any possibility of recovering unpaid wages as well as punitive damages , so prompt action is always recommended. With that stated, below are some guidelines and links to a few important websites that provide the resources individuals need to file a complaint regarding various types of employment violations: There are many different types of state and federal labor laws. Not every employee will have the same complaint or the same path to seek a remedy, but employees must understand their wage rights and seek the advice of an attorney at the first indication of an issue.