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Previous Updates
Safety and Health Standards Aligned With Federal Law
Legalizes Medical Use of Marijuana
Employers remain able to establish policies and procedures to limit the use of cannabis in the workplace. The law contains extensive employer protections.
Additionally, the law does not require a private workers’ compensation carrier or self-funded employer providing workers' compensation benefits to reimburse a person for costs associated with the use of medicinal cannabis.
Lexington CROWN Act
Frankfort, Louisville, and Covington, Kentucky, have also passed their own versions of the CROWN Act.
Kentucky’s Work Share Program
Employers may apply here.
Shared Work Program
Medical Marijuana Use Protected
Tip Pools
Effective July 14, 2022, Kentucky employers may now mandate tip pools (previously only voluntary) under certain circumstances. For example:
- No mixed pools – an employer cannot allow tipped employees to participate in a pool with non-tipped employees (such as back-of-house employees like cook and dishwasher)
- No management – employers, including managers and supervisors, are prohibited from participating in a tip pool or otherwise keeping employees’ tips
Employers taking a tip credit must also be aware of the FLSA’s 80/20 rule, which provides that an employer may lose the tip credit for time spent performing non-tipped side work, such as rolling silverware, in excess of 20% of hours worked. Employers must also pay tipped employees the full minimum wage when they spend at least 30 continuous minutes on duties that do not generate tips.
New Law Gives Employers Clearance to Hire Workers with Criminal Backgrounds
Effective in July 2021, employers can hire qualified applicants with criminal records without fearing legal liabilities. HB497, created a certificate of employability program for eligible individuals to encourage second-chance employment opportunities. The Department of Corrections will equip persons leaving incarceration that meet the necessary requirements with a certificate.
The bill provides legal protection from negligent-hiring lawsuits if an employer decides to hire certificate of employability holders, and allows them to assess a formerly incarcerated individual based on their qualifications like any other applicant.
Kentucky Expands Adoption Leave Protections
Kentucky law is amended to provide that if an employer's leave policy provides time off for birth parents that is greater than six weeks, that period of time must be the minimum period of leave available to adoptive parents.
The law has also been amended to allow employees to use leave for the adoption of a child under the age of 10 (currently, leave is available for a child under the age of seven).
If an employer provides paid leave or any other benefits to employees who are birth parents following the birth of a child, it must also provide the same type, amount, and duration of paid leave and other benefits to employees following the adoption of a child.
This does not apply to an adoption by a fictive kin (unrelated by birth, adoption or marriage), stepparent, stepsibling, blood relative including a relative of half-blood, first counsel, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, and a person of a preceding generation (e.g. grandparent, great grandparent, or great-great-grandparent), or a foster parent who adopts a foster child who is already in their care.
The amendments take effect June 29, 2021, or 90 days after the Kentucky legislature adjourns (i.e., March 30, 2021).
