Kansas Overtime Pay Calculator

Kansas is unusual because it has its own overtime law that is actually weaker than the federal one. The Kansas Minimum Wage and Maximum Hours Law (K.S.A. §44-1204) requires overtime only after 46 hours in a workweek for employers not covered by the FLSA. Because almost every business with $500,000 or more in annual sales, or that engages in interstate commerce, is covered by the federal FLSA, the practical result is that most Kansas workers still get overtime after 40 hours, not 46.

The gap matters for small, purely local employers — think a tiny local diner or a small in-state-only retailer that falls under neither federal revenue thresholds nor interstate commerce coverage. Those narrow cases can lawfully pay straight time for hours 41 through 46 under state law alone, only paying 1.5x once hours cross 46. Workers should not assume the 46-hour threshold applies to them; check whether the employer is FLSA-covered first, which the vast majority are.

Kansas's own minimum wage, set by K.S.A. §44-1203, is $7.25/hr, matching the federal floor, so the overtime rate for most workers is $10.88/hr rounded. Salaried non-exempt employees still get overtime — the salary is converted to an hourly rate based on hours actually worked in that specific week.

The Kansas Department of Labor accepts wage claims, including unpaid overtime, through its Employment Standards division, but its jurisdiction is strongest for employers not covered by the FLSA. For FLSA-covered employers — the majority — workers typically file with the U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division or bring a private lawsuit. Kansas's own wage payment claim process under K.S.A. §44-322a has a fairly short practical window, so workers should not sit on a claim; filing promptly preserves more back pay.

Federal FLSA claims allow two years to recover unpaid overtime, three years if the underpayment was willful, which covers most Kansas workers whose employer meets FLSA coverage. Because two overlapping systems exist, an experienced Kansas wage attorney will usually evaluate a claim under both statutes and pick whichever gives the worker a stronger and larger recovery.

The biggest trap in Kansas is assuming the 46-hour threshold protects an employer from paying overtime after 40 hours. In reality, almost every retailer, restaurant chain, hospital, and trucking company in Kansas is FLSA-covered, so the 40-hour rule applies regardless of what a state-law-only calculation might suggest. Small, wholly local businesses are the narrow exception, and even they often voluntarily follow the 40-hour rule to avoid the complexity of tracking two thresholds.

Kansas also exempts many agricultural and domestic workers from overtime, mirroring the federal FLSA carve-outs, so farmhands and live-in caregivers frequently receive no overtime premium at all no matter how many hours they work. Tipped employees in Kansas can be paid a reduced cash wage as low as $2.13/hr as long as tips bring total pay to $7.25/hr, but overtime must always be calculated against the full $7.25 minimum wage, not the reduced cash wage — a mistake common among small restaurants.