Requiring every employer to provide each employee with meal periods and rest periods.

Session of 2025
HOUSE BILL No. 2239
By Committee on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development
Requested by Carson Cruzeiro
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AN ACT concerning labor and employment; requiring every employer to
provide each employee with meal periods and rest periods; defining
undue hardship as a significant difficulty or expense for the employer;
allowing exemptions for meal periods under certain conditions, such as
industry practice or unforeseeable circumstances; prohibiting the
combination of rest and meal periods; allowing employees to waive
meal periods under specific conditions, including written consent and
the ability to revoke the waiver; prohibiting employer coercion in
waiving meal periods; imposing penalties for violations, including fines
up to $2,000.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, every
employer shall provide each employee with a meal period of not less than
30 continuous minutes during which the employee is relieved of all duties,
including any duty to remain on the work premises. This requirement shall
apply to each employee work period that is at least six hours but not more
than eight hours.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if an employee is not
relieved of all duties for 30 continuous minutes during the meal period, the
employer shall pay the employee for the entire 30-minute meal period.
(3) An employer is not required to provide a meal period to an
employee for a work period of less than six hours. When an employee's
work period is more than eight hours, the employer shall provide the
employee the number of meal periods as follows:
Length of work period Number of meal
periods required
2 hrs or less.......................................................... 0
2 hrs 1 min - 5 hrs 59 min.................................... 0
6 hrs......................................................................1
6 hrs 1 min - 10 hrs.............................................. 1
10 hrs 1 min - 13 hrs 59 min................................ 1
14 hrs....................................................................2
14 hrs 1 min - 18 hrs............................................ 2
18 hrs 1 min - 21 hrs 59 min................................ 2
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22 hrs....................................................................3
22 hrs 1 min - 24 hrs............................................ 3
(4) The meal period shall be taken between the conclusion of the first
hour worked and completed prior to the commencement of the final hour
worked.
(b) (1) If an employer does not provide a meal period to an employee
pursuant to subsection (a), the employer shall show that:
(A) To do so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the
employer's business as provided in subsection (c) and that the employer
has complied with subsection (d);
(B) industry practice or custom has established a paid meal period of
less than 30 minutes but not less than 20 minutes, during which employees
are relieved of all duties; or
(C) such employer's business operation encountered unforeseeable
equipment failures, acts of nature or other exceptional and unanticipated
circumstances that only rarely and temporarily preclude the provision of a
meal period required under subsection (a). If an employee is not relieved
of all duties for 30 continuous minutes during the meal period, the
employer shall pay the employee for the entire 30-minute meal period.
(2) The exemption allowed under this subsection shall not be
applicable to employees under the age of 16.
(c) As used in subsection (b), "undue hardship" means significant
difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial
resources, nature or structure of the employer's business. To determine
whether providing a meal period requires significant difficulty or expense,
the following factors may be considered:
(1) The employer's cost of complying with the requirement to provide
a meal period under subsection (a);
(2) the overall financial resources of the employer;
(3) the number of persons employed at the particular worksite and
their qualifications to relieve the employee, the total number of persons
employed by the employer and the number, type and geographic
separateness of the employer's worksites; and
(4) the effect of providing the meal period required under subsection
(a) on worksite operations involving:
(A) The startup or shutdown of machinery in continuous-operation
industrial processes;
(B) intermittent and unpredictable workflow not in the control of the
employer or employee;
(C) the perishable nature of materials used on the job; and
(D) the safety and health of other employees, patients, clients or the
public.
(d) When an employer does not provide a meal period to an employee
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pursuant to this section but qualifies for an exemption pursuant to
subsection (b):
(1) The employer shall instead provide the employee adequate paid
periods in which to rest, consume a meal and use the restroom; and
(2) the employer shall first provide to each employee a notice from
the secretary of labor regarding rest and meal periods in the language used
by the employer to communicate with the employee. The employer shall
retain and keep available to the secretary a copy of the notice for the
duration of the employee's employment and for not less than six months
after the termination date of such employee. Notices that comply with this
subsection shall be available upon request from the department.
(e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), every employer shall
provide to each employee for each segment, or a significant part thereof,
of four hours worked in a work period a rest period of not less than 15
continuous minutes during which the employee is relieved of all duties,
except that such employee may be required to remain on the work
premises without incurring a deduction from the employee's pay.
(A) As the nature of the work allows, the employer shall provide the
rest period approximately in the middle of each segment, or a major part
thereof, of four hours worked in a work period. When the employee's work
period is more than eight hours, the employer shall provide the employee
the number of rest periods as follows:
Length of work period Number of rest
breaks required
2 hrs or less.......................................................... 0
2 hrs 1 min - 5 hrs 59 min.................................... 1
6 hrs......................................................................1
6 hrs 1 min - 10 hrs.............................................. 2
10 hrs 1 min - 13 hrs 59 min................................ 3
14 hrs....................................................................3
14 hrs 1 min - 18 hrs............................................ 4
18 hrs 1 min - 21 hrs 59 min................................ 5
22 hrs....................................................................5
22 hrs 1 min - 24 hrs............................................ 6
(B) The employer shall provide rest periods in addition to and taken
separately from the time provided for a meal period. An employer may not
require or allow an employee to add the rest period to a meal period or
deduct the rest period from the beginning or end of the employee's work
period to reduce the overall length of the work period.
(C) An employer has the burden to show that the employer provided
the rest periods required under this section.
(2) An employer is not required to provide a rest period to an
employee if all of the following conditions are met:
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(A) The employee is 18 years of age or older;
(B) the employee works less than four hours in any period of 16
continuous hours;
(C) the employee is working alone;
(D) the employee is employed in a retail or service establishment
where goods that are not for resale and services are sold to the general
public; and
(E) the employee is allowed to leave such employee's assigned station
when necessary to use the restroom facilities.
(f) The provisions of this section regarding meal periods and rest
periods may be modified by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement
if the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement entered into by the
employees specifically prescribe rules concerning meal periods and rest
periods.
(g) (1) If an employer agrees, an employee may waive a meal period
if all of the following conditions are met:
(A) The employee is employed to serve food or beverages, receives
tips and reports the tips to the employee's employer;
(B) the employee is at least 18 years of age;
(C) the employee voluntarily requests to waive such employee's meal
periods not less than seven calendar days after beginning employment;
(D) the employee's request to waive the employee's meal periods is in
writing in the language used by the employer to communicate with the
employee, on a form provided by the secretary, and is signed and dated by
both the employee and employer;
(E) the employer retains and keeps available to the secretary a copy
of the employee's request to waive such employee's meal period during the
duration of such employee's employment and for not less than six months
after the termination date of the employee;
(F) the employee is provided with a reasonable opportunity to
consume food during any work period of six hours or more while
continuing to work;
(G) the employee is paid for any and all meal periods during which
the employee is not completely relieved of all duties;
(H) the employee is not required to work longer than six hours
without receiving a 30-minute meal period during which the employee is
relieved of all duties;
(I) the employer makes and keeps available to the secretary accurate
records of hours worked by each employee that clearly indicate whether or
not each such employee has received meal periods; and
(J) the employer posts a notice provided by the secretary regarding
rest and meal periods in a conspicuous and accessible place where all
employees can view such notice.
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(2) Either the employer or employee may revoke the agreement for
the employee to waive the employee's meal periods by providing to the
other at least seven calendar days' written notice.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), an employee who has requested to
waive meal periods under this section may request to take a meal period
without revoking the agreement to waive such periods. The request to take
a meal period shall be submitted in writing to the employer not less than
24 hours prior to the meal period requested.
(4) An employer may not coerce an employee into waiving a meal
period.
(5) An employer shall be considered to have coerced an employee
into waiving the employee's meal period under the following
circumstances:
(A) The employer requests or requires an employee to sign a request
to waive meal periods;
(B) an employee is required to waive meal periods as a condition of
employment at the time of hiring or at any time while employed;
(C) the employer requests or requires any person, including another
employee, to request or require an employee to waive meal periods; or
(D) the employee signs a form requesting to waive meal periods prior
to being employed for seven calendar days.
(6) Employee waiver forms and notices regarding rest and meal
periods that comply with this section shall be available upon request from
the department.
(h) (1) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, the
commissioner may, pursuant to the Kansas administrative procedure act,
assess a civil penalty of not to exceed $2,000 against an employer that the
commissioner finds has coerced an employee into waiving a meal period
in violation of this subsection. Each violation is a separate and distinct
offense. In the case of a continuing violation, each day's continuance is a
separate and distinct violation.
(2) All moneys received under this subsection shall be remitted to the
state treasurer in accordance with the provisions of K.S.A. 75-4215, and
amendments thereto. Upon receipt of each such remittance, the state
treasurer shall deposit the entire amount in the state treasury to the credit
of the state general fund.
(i) As used in this section:
(1) "Department" means the department of labor.
(2) "Employee" means someone who works in the service of another
person under an express or implied contract of hire, under which the
employer has the right to control the details of work performance.
"Employee" does not include an independent contractor.
(3) "Independent contractor" means someone who is entrusted to
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undertake a specific project but who is left free to do the assigned work
and choose the method for accomplishing such work.
(4) "Secretary" means the secretary of labor.
(5) "Work period" means the period between the time that the
employee begins work and the time the employee ends work. "Work
period" includes a rest period as provided in subsection (e) and any period
of one hour or less that is not designated as a meal period during which the
employee is relieved of all duties, even if required to remain on the work
premises. "Work period" does not include a meal period unless the meal
period is paid work time as provided in subsections (a) or (e).
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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