LUNCH PERIODS
Employers, except those subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act, shall grant their employees a reasonable period for lunch, and such time shall be as close to the middle of the employee's scheduled work shift as possible. In no case shall an employee be required to take a lunch period sooner than three (3) hours after the work shift commences, nor more than five (5) hours from the time the work shift commences. This section shall not be construed to negate any provision of a collective bargaining agreement or mutual agreement between the employee and employer.

MINIMUM WAGE
Effective July 15, 1998, every employer shall pay each employee not less than $5.15 per hour. Subsequently, the state minimum wage rate will adjust in accordance with the federal minimum wage rate as prescribed by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(a)(1).

History of minimum wage
July 1, 1974 $1.30
January 1, 1975 $1.60
July 1, 1978 $2.00
July 1, 1079 $2.15
July 15, 1982 $2.60
July 15, 1986 $3.35
July 15, 1990 $3.80
July 15, 1991 $4.25
July 15, 1998 $5.15

TIPPED EMPLOYEES
Effective July 15, 1998, for any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips, the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer's records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee. Subsequently, the tipped rate will adjust in accordance with the federal minimum tipped rate as prescribed by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(a)(1). No employer shall use all or part of any tips or gratuities received by employees toward the payment of the minimum wage. (KRS 337.275(2)) No employer shall require an employee to remit to the employer any gratuity, or any portion thereof, except for the purpose of withholding amounts required by federal or state law. No employer shall require an employee to participate in a tip pool whereby the employee is required to remit to the pool any gratuity, or any portion thereof, for distribution among employees of the employer. Employees may voluntarily enter into an agreement to divide gratuities among themselves. The employer may inform the employees of the existence of a voluntary pool and the customary tipping arrangements of the employees at the establishment. Upon petition by the participants in the voluntary pool, and at the employer's own option and expense, an employer may provide custodial services for the safekeeping of funds placed in the pool if the account is properly identified and segregated from the other business records and open to examination by pool participants.

PAYMENT OF WAGE REQUIREMENT
Every employer doing business in this state shall, as often as semimonthly, pay to each of its employees all wages or salary earned to a day not more than eighteen (18) days prior to the date of that payment. Any employee who is absent at the time fixed for payment, or who, for any other reason, is not paid at that time, shall be paid thereafter at any time upon six (6) days' demand. No employer subject to this section shall, by any means,
secure exemption from it. Every such employee shall have a right of action against any such employer for the full amount of his wages due on each regular pay day.

FINAL PAYMENT OF WAGE REQUIREMENT
Any employee who leaves or is discharged from employment shall be paid in full all wages or salary earned not later than the next normal pay period following the date of dismissal or voluntary leaving or fourteen (14) days following such date of dismissal or voluntary leaving whichever last occurs. No employer shall, by any means, secure exemption from this requirement.

PAYMENT OF COST OF MEDICAL EXAM OR RECORDS
It shall be unlawful for any employer to require any employee or applicant for employment to pay the cost of a medical examination or the cost of furnishing any records required by the employer as a condition of employment.

ILLEGAL DEDUCTIONS
No employer shall withhold from any employee's wages any part of the agreed wage rate; unless
(a) the employer is required to do so by local, state, or federal law
(b) when a deduction is expressly authorized in writing by the employee to cover insurance premiums, hospital, or medical dues
(c) other deductions not amounting to a rebate or deduction from the standard wage arrived at by collective bargaining or pursuant to wage agreement or statute
(d) deductions for union dues where such deductions are authorized by joint wage agreements or collective bargaining contracts negotiated between employers and employees or their representatives.
No employer shall deduct the following from the wages of employees:
(a) Fines
(b) Cash shortages in a common money till, cash box or register used by two (2) or more persons
(c) Breakage
(d) Losses due to acceptance by an employee of checks which are subsequently dishonored if such employee is given discretion to accept or reject any check
(e) Losses due to defective or faulty workmanship, lost or stolen property, damage to property, default of customer credit or nonpayment for goods or services received by the customer if such losses are not attributable to employee's willful or intentional disregard of employer's interest.

OVERTIME
No employer shall employ any employee for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for employment in excess of forty hours in a workweek at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the hourly rate employed. This section does not apply to employees of retail stores engaged in work connected with selling, purchasing and distributing merchandise, wares, goods, articles or commodities, or to employees of restaurant, hotel and motel operations, to employees as defined and exempted from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act in sections 213(b)(1), 213(b)(10) and 213(b)(17) of Title 29, U.S.C.

SEVENTH DAY OVERTIME
Any employer who permits any employee to work seven days in any one workweek shall pay the rate of time and a half for the time worked on the seventh day. The above shall not apply in any case in which the employee is not permitted to work more than forty hours during the workweek; or to telephone exchanges having less than five hundred subscribers; stenographers, bookkeepers or technical assistants of professions such as doctors, accountants, lawyers and other professions licensed under the laws of this state; employees subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act and seamen or persons engaged in operating boats or other water transportation facilities upon navigable streams; persons engaged in icing railroad cars; common carriers under the supervision of the Department of Vehicle Regulation; and any officer, superintendent, foreman or supervisor whose duties are principally limited to directing or supervising other employees.

RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS
Every employer subject to the provisions of the Kentucky Minimum Wage Law shall make and preserve records containing the following information:
(a) Name and address of each employee
(b) Hours worked each day and each week by each employee
(c) Regular hourly rate of pay
(d) Overtime hourly rate of pay for hours in excess of forty hours in a workweek
(e) Additions to cash wages at cost, or deductions (meals, board, lodging, etc.) from stipulated wages in the amount deducted, or at cost of the item for which deductions are made
(f) Total wages paid for each workweek and date of payment.
Such records shall be kept on file for at least one year after entry. No particular form or order is prescribed for these records provided that the information required is easily obtainable for inspection purposes.

PERFORMANCE BOND REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYER ENGAGED IN CONSTRUCTION WORK, OR THE SEVERANCE, PREPARATION, OR TRANSPORTATION OF MINERALS.
Except for employers who have been doing business in the state for five (5) consecutive years, every employer engaged in construction work, or the severance, preparation, or transportation of minerals, shall furnish on a form prescribed by the commissioner a performance bond to assure the payment of all wages due from the employer. Surety for the bond shall be an amount of money equal to the employer's gross payroll operating at
full capacity for four (4) weeks. Any employee whose wages are secured by a bond may obtain payment of those wages, liquidated damages, and attorney's fees as provided by law on presentation to the commissioner of a final judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction. The bond may be terminated, with the approval of the commissioner, on submission of the employer's statement, lawfully administered under oath, that the employer has ceased doing business in the state and that all due wages have been paid.