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Kentucky overtime rules

Kentucky follows the federal 40-hour rule with one addition: if you work all seven days of a workweek and more than 40 hours in total, the seventh day is paid at time and a half.

Verified against the US Department of Labor.

Your week

This page explains Kentucky. See another state.

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 KentuckySeparate 7th-day law: employers who permit work on all seven days of a workweek must pay 1.5x for hours on the seventh day. Does not apply when the employee is not permitted to work over 40 hours total that week.

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 Kentucky

In Kentucky, 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: “Separate 7th-day law: employers who permit work on all seven days of a workweek must pay 1.5x for hours on the seventh day. Does not apply when the employee is not permitted to work over 40 hours total that week.”

The seventh-day rule

Separate 7th-day law: employers who permit work on all seven days of a workweek must pay 1.5x for hours on the seventh day. Does not apply when the employee is not permitted to work over 40 hours total that week.

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

Kentucky, seven days in a row.You worked six 6-hour days and an 8-hour seventh day: 44 hours. The federal rule alone gives 4 overtime hours. With Kentucky's seventh-day rule, all 8 hours on the seventh day are overtime, so you have 8. At $22 an hour, that difference is $44.00 in one week.

Common mistakes employers make in Kentucky

  • Skipping the seventh-day premium when an employee works all seven days of a workweek and more than 40 hours in total.
  • Paying the seventh-day premium only for hours past 8 that day. When the rule applies, every hour worked on the seventh day is time and a half.
  • Treating the seventh-day premium as a replacement for weekly overtime. Hours over 40 in the workweek are still paid at time and a half.

Other Kentucky pay rules worth knowing

  • Final paycheck if fired: By your next regular payday or within 14 calendar days of your last day, whichever comes later.
  • Unused PTO: Kentucky counts vested vacation pay as wages, so vacation that has vested under your employer's policy belongs in the final check. Severance and earned bonuses count as wages too. Nothing requires an employer to offer vacation in the first place.
  • Late final pay: Liquidated damages equal to the unpaid wages, on top of the wages themselves.

Kentucky final paycheck law and deadline calculator →

Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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.

When does Kentucky's seventh-day rule apply?

When your employer lets you work all seven days of a workweek and your total for that week is over 40 hours. The hours on the seventh day are then paid at time and a half. If you are not allowed to work more than 40 hours that week, the seventh-day premium does not apply.

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 a Wage and Hour complaint with the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, Division of Wages and Hours — wages@ky.gov or (502) 564-3534. Actions must be brought within 3 years. 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: Arkansas, Connecticut and Hawaii.

Work across a state line? Illinois overtime rules and Indiana overtime rules.