Kentucky Overtime Pay Calculator

Kentucky follows the standard federal 40-hour workweek rule, but it adds a protection most states don't have: the seventh consecutive day rule under KRS §337.050. If an employee works seven consecutive days in a single workweek, the employer must pay 1.5 times the regular rate for all hours worked on that seventh day, even if the worker hasn't yet crossed 40 hours for the week. This is separate from, and can stack with, the standard 40-hour overtime calculation.

In practice, this means a Kentucky worker who works six 5-hour days plus a 4-hour shift on the seventh consecutive day is owed time-and-a-half for that seventh day's 4 hours, even though total weekly hours are only 34 — well under 40. The rule only applies when the days are truly consecutive within the employer's defined workweek; if there's a rest day anywhere in the cycle, the seventh-day premium doesn't apply.

Kentucky's minimum wage under KRS §337.275 is $7.25/hr, matching the federal floor, so standard overtime pay is $10.88/hr rounded. Salaried non-exempt workers still qualify — their weekly salary gets converted into an hourly regular rate based on actual hours worked, and both the 40-hour and seventh-day rules apply on top of that rate.

The Kentucky Labor Cabinet's Division of Wages and Hours investigates unpaid overtime complaints under KRS Chapter 337. Workers can file a wage claim directly with the agency, which can order back pay and, in some cases, liquidated damages. Kentucky gives workers a generous five-year statute of limitations for wage claims under state law — notably longer than the federal FLSA's two or three years — which makes filing a claim under Kentucky law often the better option for older unpaid wages.

Because the state deadline is longer, workers with claims stretching back several years should specifically raise the Kentucky wage claim alongside or instead of a federal FLSA claim. An employer that ignored the seventh-day rule for years, for example, could owe considerably more in back pay under the five-year state lookback than under the federal two-year window.

Employers who don't know about the seventh-consecutive-day rule frequently violate it without realizing, especially in retail, restaurant, and healthcare scheduling where workers pick up extra shifts across what looks like a single stretch of days. Workers should track their actual calendar days worked, not just weekly hour totals, because the seventh-day premium can apply even in a light-hours week.

Kentucky also follows the federal exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees, and agricultural workers are largely excluded from overtime protections just as under federal law. Tipped employees can be paid a reduced direct wage as low as $2.13/hr as long as tips close the gap to $7.25/hr, but overtime must be calculated on the full minimum wage. Overall, Kentucky workers get the federal floor plus one meaningful bonus protection — the seventh-day rule — that federal law alone does not provide.