AbsentEase
Kentucky sick leave law & call-off rules
Kentucky has no sick leave mandate — but it's the no-mandate state whose other rules most resemble a mandate state's. Paid 10-minute rest breaks every 4 hours and a properly timed meal period are required by statute, "vested" vacation is collectible as wages, and employees can claim 4 hours of voting leave with a day's notice. A handbook imported from Tennessee or Indiana will violate at least one of these. Here is what applies in 2026.
Kentucky at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None — local mandates preempted (HB 3, 2017) |
|---|---|
| Rest breaks | Paid 10 minutes per 4 hours worked — statutory (KRS 337.365) |
| Meal period | Reasonable meal break between the 3rd and 5th hour (KRS 337.355) |
| Vested vacation | Wages — payable at separation per your own policy's vesting terms |
| Voting leave | At least 4 hours on a day's notice (pay optional) |
| Final paycheck deadline | Next payday or 14 days, whichever is LATER |
| Employment relationship | At-will with the Firestone workers' comp retaliation exception |
Is paid sick leave required in Kentucky?
No. Kentucky has no sick leave requirement, and 2017's HB 3 — following the Kentucky Supreme Court's rejection of Louisville's minimum-wage ordinance — preempts local governments from mandating wages or fringe benefits. Your written policy and the federal floor govern sick leave; the break and voting rules below are mandatory.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Kentucky
Kentucky is at-will with the classic workers' comp retaliation exception (Firestone v. Meadows, codified at KRS 342.197) — comp-related absences get carved out of points before discipline, same as Indiana and Ohio. The distinctive compliance work is in timekeeping rather than sick leave: auto-deducted lunches, skipped rest breaks, and "work through it" scheduling generate wage liability that most Southern handbooks never contemplate, and the Labor Cabinet handles those claims with attorney-fee exposure. Attendance records and break records end up being the same defense file. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system covers the absence half of it automatically.
After a no call, no show termination in Kentucky
| Does Kentucky law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation defines job abandonment or sets a consecutive-days no-show threshold; it is set by employer policy. (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 341.370(1)(b), (1)(c), (6)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | An employee who is discharged must be paid in full all wages or salary earned not later than the next normal pay period following the date of dismissal or 14 days following that date, whichever occurs last; an employee not paid at that time must be paid upon 14 days' demand. (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 337.055) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | Same rule: § 337.055 covers any employee who 'leaves or is discharged', with no distinction for notice, so a voluntary leaving with or without notice is due by the later of the next normal pay period following the date of leaving or 14 days after it. The Education and Labor Cabinet's Wages and Hours page states the same rule. (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 337.055) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | Owed unless a written policy clearly provides for forfeiture. 'Wages' includes 'vested vacation pay' and other advantages 'agreed upon by the employer and the employee or provided to employees as an established policy' (KRS 337.010(1)(c)1), so vacation that has vested under the employer's policy or practice must be paid at separation under § 337.055, while whether and when vacation vests is left to the policy (Berrier v. Bizer, 57 S.W.3d 271 (Ky. 2001)). (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 337.010(1)(c)1; § 337.055; Berrier v. Bizer, 57 S.W.3d 271 (Ky. 2001)) |
| Unemployment claims | A worker is disqualified for leaving most recent suitable work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employment (KRS 341.370(1)(c)) or for discharge for misconduct connected with the work (§ 341.370(1)(b)); 'discharge for misconduct' includes 'knowing violation of a reasonable and uniformly enforced rule of an employer' and 'unsatisfactory attendance if the worker cannot show good cause for absences or tardiness' (§ 341.370(6)). |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Kentucky's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Kentucky
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Kentucky already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | Next regular payday or within 14 days, whichever comes later | KRS 337.055 |
| Employee quits | Same rule — later of next payday or 14 days | KRS 337.055 |
| Vested vacation | Counts as wages and rides the same timeline — but your written policy defines what 'vested' means; an explicit no-payout policy means nothing vests | KRS 337.010 |
| Enforcement | Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, with penalties and attorney-fee exposure | — |
Kentucky's vesting rule rewards precise drafting: define vesting (or its absence) explicitly, because the Labor Cabinet will enforce whatever the words say. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Kentucky employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rest breaks | Yes — paid | At least 10 minutes per 4 hours worked (KRS 337.365) |
| Meal period | Yes | Reasonable meal break, customarily 20+ minutes, between the 3rd and 5th hour (KRS 337.355) |
| Voting | Yes | At least 4 hours if requested a day ahead; pay is the employer's choice; no-shows at the polls can be disciplined |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | Permanent employees get protected leave; no discharge or penalties (KRS 29A.160) |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Kentucky National Guard protections |
The Kentucky employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.