Kansas Minimum Wage

Every Kansas employer needs to update his or her federal minimum wage poster. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour, an increase of 70 cents.

The Kansas minimum wage is $2.65 per hour. Kansas currently has the lowest minimum wage of any state, although there are 5 states that do not have a minimum wage at all. They are Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and South Carolina.

This change affects most employers in Kansas.

The federal minimum wage is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. FLSA covers employers with annual earnings of at least $500,000, and companies who engage in interstate commerce.

With advanced technology of the Internet, communicating via emails, and accepting credit cards for payment, the majority of Kansas businesses are engaged in interstate commerce. Even if the company doesn’t engage in interstate commerce, an individual employee within the company may, and would be covered by FLSA.

For example, a buyer for a retail store places orders for merchandise with out-of-state vendors is engaged in interstate commerce, as is the administrative assistant who places and answers calls from out-of-state customers.

Therefore, most of the employers in Kansas will be required to pay their employees the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

Kansas employees not covered by the federal minimum are entitled to the state minimum of $2.65 per hour.

If an Kansas employee is entitled to both the federal and the state minimum, he or she is entitled to whichever provides the greater benefit. Since the federal minimum is higher, it provides the benefit, so the employee would be paid the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

It is possible for two employees in the same company to be paid a different minimum wage. The difference is whether they deal in any way with clients, customers or suppliers in another state.

For instance, a small hair salon with earnings under $500,000 may only serve local customers, but if the receptionist accepts credit card for payment, he or she is engaged in interstate commerce and entitled to the federal minimum. A shampoo girl who does not accept payments will be entitled only to the Kansas minimum.

The July 24, 2009 increase in the federal minimum wage is the third and last increase provided by the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.