Kentucky — Wage & Hour

Kentucky's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, effective July 1, 2009. The state statute incorporates the federal minimum wage by reference, meaning if the federal rate rises above $7.25, Kentucky's minimum wage automatically increases to match the federal rate on the same effective date. When both state and federal minimum wage laws apply to an employee, the employer must pay whichever rate is higher.

Source: KRS § 337.275; Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet – Wages and Hours

Kentucky law requires employers to pay overtime at 1.5× the employee's regular hourly rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Unlike some states, Kentucky does not mandate overtime for hours worked beyond eight in a single day, or for work on weekends, Sundays, or holidays, unless those hours push the employee over 40 for the week. The workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period; employers may not average hours across multiple weeks to avoid overtime obligations.

Source: KRS § 337.285; 803 KAR 1:060

Kentucky incorporates the federal Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemptions by regulatory reference, meaning the same white-collar exemptions that apply under federal law — executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales employees — also exempt those employees from Kentucky's overtime requirement under KRS 337.285. An employer classifying an employee as exempt must satisfy both the FLSA duties test and the salary-basis test. The federal salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions is currently $684 per week ($35,568 annually) under 29 C.F.R. § 541.600, as established in the DOL's 2019 rule and confirmed in a May 2026 technical amendment after federal courts vacated the Biden administration's 2024 rule that would have raised the threshold. Kentucky regulations do not impose a higher salary threshold or more restrictive duties test than the FLSA.

Kentucky-specific exemptions from overtime

Kentucky law carves out additional categories of employees not covered by the state overtime requirement in KRS 337.285, even if those employees would be non-exempt under the FLSA. These Kentucky-specific exclusions are set forth in 803 KAR 1:076, Section 4, and include:

• Retail and hospitality workers at small-volume establishments. Employees of retail stores, service industries, hotels, motels, and restaurants whose establishment's average annual gross sales are less than $95,000 for the five preceding years (exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level) are exempt from both Kentucky minimum wage and overtime provisions. The establishment must be "recognized as retail in the particular industry" — typically one that sells goods or services to the general public.

• Auto, truck, and farm-implement salespersons, parts personnel, and mechanics. Any salesperson, parts person, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers, is exempt from Kentucky overtime (mirroring the FLSA exemption under 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(10)).

• Trailer, boat, and aircraft salespersons. Any salesperson primarily engaged in selling trailers, boats, or aircraft, if employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in selling such items to ultimate purchasers, is exempt.

• Taxicab drivers. Any driver employed by an employer engaged in the business of operating taxicabs is exempt from Kentucky overtime.

• Employees providing 24-hour residential care to dependent, neglected, or abused children. Employees whose function is to provide 24-hour residential care on the employer's premises in a parental role to children who are primarily dependent, neglected, or abused and who are in the care of private nonprofit child-caring facilities licensed by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services under KRS Chapter 199 are exempt.

• Certain motor carrier employees. Any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935 is exempt.

Public-sector overtime alternatives

KRS 337.285 allows Kentucky counties and cities to offer compensatory time off at a rate of 1.5 hours for each overtime hour worked, in lieu of cash overtime pay, for non-exempt employees who voluntarily agree in writing before performing the work. Public safety and emergency-response employees may accrue up to 480 hours of comp time; all other public employees have a 240-hour cap. This is a permissive option; public employers may choose to pay cash overtime instead. Exempt employees are not entitled to overtime or comp time under the statute, though employers may voluntarily offer comp-time policies to exempt employees as a benefit.

Application hierarchy

When both federal FLSA and Kentucky law apply to an employee, the regulation that provides the greater protection to the employee controls. If an employee is non-exempt under the FLSA but falls within a Kentucky-specific exemption (such as the small-retailer exclusion), the employer must still comply with FLSA overtime requirements if the employee is engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise with $500,000+ in annual gross volume of sales. Conversely, if an employee is FLSA-exempt but the exemption does not appear in Kentucky law or regulation, Kentucky's overtime rule does not apply, because Kentucky incorporates the federal exemptions.

Source: KRS § 337.285; 803 KAR 1:076; 29 C.F.R. § 541.600; Federal Register, May 15, 2026 — DOL Technical Amendment

Kentucky imposes a second, independent overtime obligation distinct from the standard 40-hour weekly threshold: any employer who permits an employee to work seven days in any one workweek must pay 1.5× the regular rate for all hours worked on the seventh day. This rule operates under KRS 337.050, separate from the general overtime statute (KRS 337.285), and applies only when the employee actually works every day of the employer's defined workweek.

The 40-hour exception — the seventh-day rule does not apply when weekly hours are 40 or less

KRS 337.050 explicitly carves out a critical exception: the seventh-day overtime requirement does not apply if the employee is not permitted to work more than 40 hours during the workweek. In practical terms, if an employee works all seven days but the total hours for the week are 40 or fewer, the employer owes no seventh-day premium under KRS 337.050; the employee is simply paid the regular rate for all hours. For example, an employee who works six hours on each of the first six days (36 hours) and four hours on the seventh day (40 hours total) receives regular pay for all 40 hours, with no seventh-day premium.

When the employee exceeds 40 total hours and works all seven days, both overtime obligations come into play: the employer owes 1.5× for hours over 40 under KRS 337.285 and 1.5× for all hours on the seventh day under KRS 337.050. However, the statute allows the employer to credit any seventh-day overtime paid under KRS 337.050 against the overtime owed for hours over 40 under KRS 337.285 (or under any other law or contract). The employee is not entitled to double overtime for the same hours; the employer satisfies both obligations by paying the 1.5× rate once for the overlapping hours.

Workweek definition and permanence

For purposes of KRS 337.050, "workweek" means either a calendar week or any other period of seven consecutive days adopted by the employer, provided it is established with the intention that it be permanent and without the intention to evade the overtime provision. An employer may not manipulate the start day or time of the workweek to avoid triggering seventh-day overtime. The workweek must be a fixed, recurring 168-hour period.

Which day is the "seventh day"?

The statute does not specify that the seventh day must be Sunday or any particular calendar day. The seventh day is simply the last day of the employer's defined workweek on which the employee actually works, assuming the employee worked all six preceding days in that same workweek. If the employer's workweek runs Monday through Sunday and the employee works Monday through Sunday, Sunday is the seventh day. If the workweek runs Thursday through Wednesday and the employee works all seven days, Wednesday is the seventh day.

Statutory exemptions from the seventh-day rule

KRS 337.050 exempts specific categories of employees from the seventh-day overtime requirement, even if they would otherwise be non-exempt under the FLSA. These exemptions include:

• Telephone exchange employees. Employees of telephone exchanges having fewer than 500 subscribers.
• Professional support staff. Stenographers, bookkeepers, or technical assistants employed by professionals such as doctors, accountants, lawyers, and other professions licensed under Kentucky law.
• Railway and maritime workers. Employees subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act, and seamen or persons engaged in operating boats or other water transportation facilities upon navigable streams.
• Railroad icing personnel. Persons engaged in icing railroad cars.
• Common carriers under vehicle regulation. Common carriers under the supervision of the Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation.
• Supervisors and officers. Any officer, superintendent, foreman, or supervisor whose duties are principally limited to directing or supervising other employees.

These exemptions apply only to the seventh-day overtime rule under KRS 337.050. An employee exempt from seventh-day overtime may still be entitled to overtime under KRS 337.285 for hours over 40 in a workweek, unless the employee also qualifies for an exemption under that statute or under the FLSA white-collar exemptions.

Interaction with the 40-hour rule and stacking of obligations

When an employee works all seven days and exceeds 40 total hours, the employer must determine which hours trigger which overtime obligation, then apply the credit. A common scenario: an employee works eight hours on each of the first six days (48 hours) and eight hours on the seventh day (56 hours total). Under KRS 337.285, the employer owes 1.5× for 16 hours (the hours over 40). Under KRS 337.050, the employer owes 1.5× for the eight hours worked on the seventh day. Because the seventh day's eight hours fall entirely within the 16 overtime hours owed under the 40-hour rule, the employer credits the eighth-day premium against the weekly overtime and pays a total of 16 hours at 1.5×, not 24. The employee receives 40 hours at the regular rate plus 16 hours at 1.5×.

If the employee works fewer hours on the seventh day than the total weekly overtime hours, the credit fully absorbs the seventh-day premium. If the employee works more hours on the seventh day than the weekly overtime hours (unusual but possible with a very short workweek definition or an employee who works minimal hours on the first six days but a long shift on the seventh), the seventh-day premium may exceed the 40-hour premium, and the credit operates in reverse — but the 40-hour exception will usually prevent this scenario, because the employee would have worked 40 or fewer hours total.

Civil penalties for violations

An employer who violates KRS 337.050 is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 per violation, assessed by the Kentucky Labor Cabinet.

Source: KRS § 337.050; KRS § 337.990