Minimum wage in Kansas

The minimum wage in the state of Kansas is $2.65 per hour for workers eighteen years of age and older but does not apply to employees and employers who are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act which sets the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour. Premium payment or 1 ½ times the minimum wage is paid after forty-six hours of work a week in the state of Kansas. Obviously workers in Kansas are the lowest paid throughout the country.

At the rate of $2.65 per hour an employee in Kansas who works forty hours a week will make a yearly salary of $5,000. For twenty-six years the Kansas minimum wage has not been changed or even adjusted for inflation. Approximately, 26,000 workers in Kansas earn less than the current federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. A survey found the workers who are in janitorial jobs, cafeteria workers for preschoolers, and some home health care workers are still earning $2.65 per hour.

Recently the Kansas legislature worked on a bill to change the minimum wage from $2.65 per hour to $5.15 per hour for tipped employees. However, this bill never passed the legislature. The U.S. Congress is still working on increasing the minimum wage but in Kansas any increase in the federal minimum wage would only affect those Kansans who are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In order to increase the Kansas minimum wage for those employees and employers who are not covered by the FLSA, the legislature would need to pass an amendment to their constitution or introduce a bill for their governor to sign. The voters in Kansas could take an aggressive stance by submitting a ballot issue to be voted on by the state’s voters. In any case, Kansas voters need to take more aggressive stand to help improve the quality of life for their minimum wage workers.