KY · state labor law, 2026
Kentucky labor laws: minimum wage, overtime, leave, final pay and breaks
Kentucky keeps the federal wage but gives workers something most states do not: paid rest breaks and a set window for lunch.
Kentucky and federal rules checked on official sources on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Minimum wage now
- $7.25/h
- statewide
- Next change
- none announced
- checked October 11, 2026
- Tipped cash wage
- $2.13/h
- tips must make up the rest
- Overtime
- 40 h/week
- state law
- Paid sick leave
- no state law
- employer policy
- Paid family leave
- no program
- FMLA is unpaid
Kentucky is one of the few states that require breaks for adults: a paid rest period of at least 10 minutes for every 4 hours worked, plus a reasonable lunch period that starts no sooner than three hours and no later than five hours into the shift. The minimum wage is $7.25 an hour in 2026, worth $15,080 for a full-time year, and the statute raises it automatically if the federal rate goes up; no change is announced for 2027. Tipped employees may be paid $2.13 in cash when tips bring them to $7.25. Overtime is time and a half after 40 hours a week, and an employee permitted to work all seven days of a workweek earns time and a half on the seventh. Final wages are due by the next normal pay period or within 14 days, whichever comes later, and vested vacation counts as wages.
Gross pay for this week in Kentucky
$290
Time and a half after 40 hours in a week
| Minimum wage in Kentucky now | $7.25 an hour |
| Your rate against it | At or above the minimum |
| Overtime: none this week | $0 |
| Paid sick leave earned in a year | No statewide paid sick leave law |
| Breaks owed in a 8-hour shift | 2 x 10 min paid rest |
| Final paycheck if fired | by the next normal pay period or within 14 days of separation, whichever is later |
| Unused vacation at the end | Paid out if the employer policy or contract says so |
| Paid family leave | No state program |
40 hours a week at $7.25. State rule applied. Minimum wage, overtime and leave rules have exceptions by employer size and industry. How this is calculated.
Ten paid minutes every four hours, and lunch in the middle
Federal law requires no breaks at all, and most states add nothing for adults. Kentucky's statute says no employer may require an employee to work four hours without a rest period of at least 10 minutes, and the employer may not cut pay for it. The rest period comes in addition to the lunch period. On an 8-hour shift that means 2 paid rest breaks; a 12-hour hospital or plant shift carries 3. Lunch must be a reasonable period, scheduled as close to the middle of the shift as possible, and an employee cannot be sent to lunch sooner than three hours after starting or later than five hours. The statute does not fix the length of lunch, so the employer sets it within that reasonable standard.
Overtime on the seventh day
Kentucky follows the 40-hour weekly rule, and KRS 337.050 adds a seventh-day rule: an employer who permits an employee to work all seven days of a workweek pays time and a half for the time worked on the seventh day, when the week also passes 40 hours. Picture a grocery distribution worker at $16 an hour who works 6.5 hours a day, seven days straight, for 45.5 hours. Counting only hours past 40 gives $772 for the week. Paying the whole seventh day at time and a half gives $780. The state overtime statute excludes employees of retail stores and of restaurants, hotels and motels, but they keep federal overtime whenever their employer is covered by the FLSA. Exempt salaried staff need at least the federal $684 a week.
Vacation that has vested is part of your pay
Kentucky's definition of wages includes vested vacation pay, alongside salaries and commissions. Whether your unused days have vested depends on the employer's written policy or agreement, which is why two workers leaving the same week from different companies can get very different checks. If the policy treats vacation as earned and vested, it must be paid with the final wages.
Is your unused PTO paid out?
Kentucky: payout
Depends on the written policy
| Value of the balance | $880 |
| When it is due | by the next normal pay period or within 14 days of separation, whichever is later |
The last paycheck and union fees
When a job ends, by dismissal or resignation, the employer must pay what is owed by the next normal pay period after the last day or within 14 days of it, whichever date is later. If your last day is a Monday and payday falls that Friday, the employer still has until the fourteenth day. Kentucky has been a right-to-work state since January 9, 2017: no employee can be required to join a union or pay dues to keep a job. The Office of Workplace Standards in the Education and Labor Cabinet enforces the wage and hour law, and a comparison of break laws shows how unusual Kentucky's rest rule is.
Kentucky employment rules at a glance, 2026
Minimum wage schedule
| From | Who it covers | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1, 2009 | Statewide | $7.25 | KRS 337.275; the state rate automatically rises to match any federal increase. |
Workers covered by both laws get the higher rate. Read the Kentucky rule.
Overtime
Time and a half after 40 hours in a week; Time and a half for hours worked on the 7th day when an employee is permitted to work all 7 days of a workweek and more than 40 hours that week (KRS 337.050).. The salary test for exempt employees is the federal $684 a week. KRS 337.285 excludes retail store and restaurant/hotel/motel employees from STATE overtime; such workers remain covered by FLSA overtime if their employer is covered. source
Sick leave and family leave
Kentucky has no statewide paid sick leave law for private employers; leave depends on the employer's policy or a city ordinance. No Kentucky law requires private employers to provide paid sick leave.
No state paid family leave insurance: the federal FMLA gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave.
Final paycheck and unused vacation
Fired or laid off: by the next normal pay period or within 14 days of separation, whichever is later. Quitting: by the next normal pay period or within 14 days of separation, whichever is later. Vacation: Kentucky counts 'vested vacation pay' as wages, so vacation that is vested under the employer's policy or agreement must be paid with final wages.. source vacation rule
Meal and rest breaks
Meal: A reasonable lunch period, as close to mid-shift as possible, starting no sooner than 3 hours and no later than 5 hours after the shift begins. Rest: Paid rest period of at least 10 minutes for each 4 hours worked, in addition to the lunch period. source
Unions and dismissal
Kentucky is a right-to-work state: a union contract cannot require you to pay dues or fees to keep your job. Employment is at will: either side may end it at any time, except for an illegal reason such as discrimination or retaliation, or against a contract. source
Also worth knowing in Kentucky
- Kentucky is one of the few states requiring paid 10-minute rest breaks for every 4 hours worked, plus a lunch period between the 3rd and 5th hour of the shift. source
- Seventh-day overtime: an employee permitted to work all seven days of a workweek (and more than 40 hours) earns time and a half for the seventh day. source
- Kentucky became a right-to-work state in January 2017. source