Kentucky Overtime Laws
Kentucky does not have its own state laws for overtime and instead uses
those provided by the government. Federal laws state that under the
Fair Labor Standards Act employees have the right to be paid more for
additional time worked. The Fair Labor Standards Act states that time
worked qualifies an individual for overtime if he or she was permitted
to work after his or her forty hours is completed. Pressure to meet
deadlines and continued working constitutes time worked and qualifies
for overtime payment.
The federal minimum wage law requires that employees be paid in full
for all of their time worked. Normally most employees work an average
of forty hours a week. Anytime after this forty hours is considered
overtime. When an employee works outside of the company's or business'
premises, he or she is to be paid for that overtime if his or her job
requires them to work there. For instance, an individual may deliver
items for a company and be required to work off the premises.
At times some jobs provide work on an irregular basis, such as delivery
schedules, so that an employee may have no work for several hours. In
this case the employer is required to pay the employee, despite having
no work. This is only the case when an employee is scheduled to work
for seven and one half hours, such as nine in the morning to 5 in the
evening.
Meal Breaks
Rather than use federal laws to regulate meal breaks, Kentucky has its
own state laws in regards to meal breaks. These meal laws require that
employees be given breaks for meals each day and usually are to take
place anywhere between the fifth and third hour of a working day. The
law does not require that an employer pay an employee for this time,
but a company or business has the right to pay an employee to take a
meal break if contracted. Meals however are normally unpaid and require
employees to complete no work while breaking. If an employee does
complete work or it still on duty, he or she is required to be paid for
that time.
Under Kentucky law employees are to break for approximately thirty
minutes, unless otherwise stated by an employer. Normally breaks are to
be taken after five hours of work, unless a shift is to end after six
hours of work. Though not required by federal or Kentucky state law,
employers often also provide shorter breaks once or twice a day. These
breaks last about ten minutes long and are paid breaks to promote
productivity. Restroom breaks are also not required but facilities are
to be readily offered.
Holiday Pay
No federal law or Kentucky state law requires employers to pay
employees for vacations or holidays. Employers may choose to pay
employees and are legally required to do so if stated via contract.
Employers are also not required to pay employees extra for working
holidays. According to federal law, a company or business is legally
allowed to be open every day of the year, thus requiring employees to
work whenever in business.