Skip to content
HoursCheck

Kansas overtime rules

Kansas sets its own overtime threshold at 46 hours a week, but that rule applies only where the federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not. For most Kansas workers overtime still starts after 40 hours.

Verified against the US Department of Labor.

Your week

Decimal (46.5) or hours and minutes (46:30).

Attendance, production, safety bonuses and shift differentials count. Gifts and reimbursements do not.

Good to know in KansasState law excludes employment subject to FLSA.

What you are owed

Regular rate of payBase rate plus bonus, per hour
$25.26
Straight time40.00 hrs at the regular rate
$1,010.43
Overtime6.00 hrs at 1.5×
$227.35
Double timeNone this week
$0.00
Total gross$1,237.78
Your overtime rate is higher than your hourly rate$9.78 more Your regular rate of pay is $25.26, so your overtime rate is $37.89, not $33.00. Paying overtime at $33.00 would leave you $9.78 short this week.

The rule in Kansas

In Kansas, hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate. There is no general daily limit, so a 12-hour day inside a 36-hour week earns no overtime.

The US Department of Labor's state table adds: “State law excludes employment subject to FLSA.”

Kansas's own 46-hour threshold

State law excludes employment subject to FLSA.

What counts toward your regular rate

Overtime is 1.5 times your regular rate of pay: everything you earned for the week at straight time, divided by every hour you worked.

Counts

  • Your hourly pay for every hour worked, at each rate you worked
  • Non-discretionary bonuses — attendance, production, safety, or any bonus promised in advance
  • Commissions
  • Shift differentials for nights, weekends or hazardous work

Does not count

  • Discretionary bonuses and gifts, where both the fact and the amount were up to the employer
  • Expense reimbursements
  • Pay for time not worked: vacation, holidays, sick days

A worked example

Kansas, 46 hours with a $150 production bonus.Your overtime is not 1.5 × $22. The bonus is spread across all 46 hours first, lifting your regular rate to $25.26, which makes your overtime rate $37.89 instead of $33.00. Paying overtime at $33.00 would leave you $9.78 short for the week.

Common mistakes employers make in Kansas

  • Quoting the 46-hour Kansas threshold to an employee federal law already covers. K.S.A. 44-1204 does not apply to them, and their overtime still starts after 40 hours.
  • Using the bare hourly rate where federal law applies. Kansas measures 1.5 times the hourly wage rate, but the federal regular rate must also take in non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials and commissions.
  • Letting final wages run late. A willful failure costs 1% of the unpaid wages for each day except Sundays and legal holidays after the eighth day, up to the full amount owed.

Other Kansas pay rules worth knowing

  • Final paycheck if fired: By your next regularly scheduled payday. The date depends on your pay schedule, not on when you were let go.
  • Unused PTO: Unused vacation is paid out only if your employer has a policy or practice of paying it. Use-it-or-lose-it and anniversary-date forfeiture policies are allowed in Kansas.
  • Late final pay: If the failure to pay is willful, the employer owes 1% of the unpaid wages for each day except Sundays and legal holidays after the eighth day past the due date, up to 100% of the unpaid wages (K.S.A. 44-315(b)).

Kansas final paycheck law and deadline calculator →

Kansas overtime: common questions

Does my employer have to pay overtime if they didn't approve it?

Yes. Time your employer knew you were working, or allowed you to work, counts as hours worked, whether or not anyone approved it in advance. An employer can discipline you for breaking an overtime policy, but it still has to pay overtime for those hours — in Kansas as everywhere else under federal law.

Does my bonus change my overtime rate?

Yes, if the bonus is non-discretionary — promised for attendance, production, safety or hitting a target. It is added to your straight-time pay and divided by all the hours you worked, and your overtime is 1.5 times that higher rate. Discretionary gifts, expense reimbursements and paid time off are left out.

Is overtime in Kansas after 40 hours or 46?

For most people, 40. The Kansas threshold of 46 hours applies only to employers and employees outside the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, because the state statute excludes anyone the federal law covers. If your employer is covered by federal law, and most are, your overtime starts after 40 hours in the workweek.

What is a workweek, and can my employer change it?

A workweek is a fixed, recurring block of seven consecutive 24-hour days, and it can start on any day and at any hour. Overtime is counted per workweek, never averaged across two, even when you are paid every two weeks. Your employer can change the start day, but only permanently and not to avoid paying overtime.

If you think you were underpaid

  1. Keep your own record of the hours you worked — the time card calculator totals them and exports a CSV — plus photos of the posted schedule and messages about shifts.
  2. Ask your employer in writing to correct the pay. Email beats a conversation because it creates a dated record.
  3. File a wage claim — File Wage Claim form K-ESLR 105 with the Kansas Department of Labor, Office of Employment Standards. It is free, and you do not need a lawyer.
  4. Federal overtime claims must generally be brought within 2 years of the underpayment, or 3 years if the violation was willful.

Spotted something wrong? Report an error.

Other states that also add their own exception to the 40-hour rule: Connecticut, Hawaii and Kentucky.

Work across a state line? Colorado overtime rules and Missouri overtime rules.