2015 Kentucky Minimum Wage
The 2015 Kentucky Minimum Wage is $7.25.
Effective 2015-01-01Source: Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers and employees in Kentucky subject to the state minimum wage
What changed this year, and why
Kentucky's minimum wage was $7.25 per hour in 2015.
Common questions
- What was the minimum wage in Kentucky in 2015?
- The minimum wage in Kentucky in 2015 was $7.25 per hour.
Minors, students and training wages: who may be paid less than the rate on this page
In Kentucky, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. However, not every worker or employer is covered at that full rate. Certain exemptions from the minimum wage and overtime requirements exist under state law, meaning some employees — such as minors, students in work-study programs, or workers undergoing training — may lawfully be paid a subminimum rate that falls below the standard hourly amount. The exemptions are limited and conditional. Employers who believe a particular worker may qualify for a subminimum wage should contact the Kentucky labor office directly for guidance before paying anything below the regular rate. Workers who believe they are being underpaid can also reach out to that office to ask whether their situation is covered by an exemption or whether the full minimum applies.
Certain exemptions from minimum wage and overtime apply.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Overtime is paid at one and one-half times the regular rate
Kentucky's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The overtime rule in the state's Wage and Hour Laws requires that any employee who works more than forty hours in a workweek must be paid at a rate that is not less than one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for each hour beyond forty. In Kentucky, this means that once a worker passes the forty-hour mark in a single workweek, every additional hour must be compensated at the overtime premium rate. Employers in the Commonwealth cannot pay the straight hourly rate for those extra hours; the higher premium rate is mandatory. This rule applies regardless of whether the worker is paid hourly or on another basis, and it works together with the seventh-day provision, which also requires time and a half when an employee works all seven days in a workweek.
The rate of pay for time in excess of forty hours shall be not less than one and one-half the hourly rate employed.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Who to ask about this rate, and where to take a wage complaint
In Kentucky, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Workers with questions about whether they are covered by the state's wage laws, or who need to file a complaint about unpaid wages or illegal deductions, should contact the Kentucky labor office directly. The office can be reached at (502)564-3534. Staff there can advise employees and employers about exemptions, overtime rules, and other requirements under the Commonwealth's Wage and Hour Laws. Workers who believe their rights have been violated — for example, if they were paid below the required rate or denied overtime — should call this number to learn how to proceed and where to direct their concern.
For questions, please call (502)564-3534.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
When tips, meals or lodging count toward the minimum wage
In Kentucky, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. For employees who regularly receive tips, the rules allow the employer to pay a base wage of $2.13 per hour, but only if the worker's tips bring their total earnings to at least the full minimum wage each week. The employer must keep records showing that this requirement is met every pay period. If tips plus the base wage fall short in any week, the employer must make up the difference. In Kentucky, an employer may not take all or part of an employee's tips toward the minimum wage obligation beyond what the law permits. Workers may also pool tips among themselves, provided the pool account is kept separate from the employer's other records and is open to inspection by participants.
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' 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.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
What an employer may deduct from your pay
In Kentucky, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. State law strictly limits what an employer may take out of an employee's paycheck. Employers may not deduct fines, cash shortages from shared registers, breakage, losses from dishonored checks (if the employee had discretion to accept them), or losses from faulty workmanship, stolen property, or customer defaults — unless the employee willfully disregarded the employer's interests. Deductions are only allowed when required by law, when the employee has given written authorization for items like insurance premiums or medical dues, for other authorized deductions that do not reduce pay below the agreed wage, or for union dues under a collective bargaining agreement. In Kentucky, these rules mean that even when an employer has a legitimate business loss, it generally may not shift that cost to workers through paycheck deductions that would push their earnings below what they are owed.
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;
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
- Hourly
MINIMUM WAGE = $7.25 per hour
Other years
Every Kentucky Minimum Wage year · Minimum Wage in every state