Bill
HB 2239
HB 2239 requires Kansas employers to provide minimum 30-minute paid/unpaid meal breaks and 15-minute rest breaks per work period, with penalties for violations.
Status and context
- Bill number: HB 2239 (Kansas)
- Title: Requiring every employer to provide each employee with meal periods and rest periods
- Introduced: January 29, 2025
- Current referral: Committee on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development
- Fiscal note issued by Kansas Division of the Budget (February 20, 2025)
Purpose and intent
- Establish minimum, state-level requirements for paid and unpaid meal and rest breaks for employees, define limited exemptions, allocate enforcement responsibility to the Secretary of Labor, and create civil penalties for violations.
Key provisions
- Meal periods
- Employers must provide a meal period of at least 30 continuous minutes, relieved of all duties (including duty to remain on premises), for each work period of 6 hours or more.
- Meal period timing: taken after the first hour worked and completed before the final hour worked.
- If the employer fails to relieve an employee for the full 30 minutes, the employer must pay the employee for the entire 30‑minute meal period.
- Multiple meal periods required for very long shifts (table in bill): e.g., 1 meal for 6–10 hours; 2 meals for 14–18 hours; up to 3 meals for 22–24 hours.
- Employers may claim an exemption only if they show (1) undue hardship (defined as significant difficulty or expense given employer size/resources/operations), (2) industry custom provides a paid meal of 20–29 minutes, or (3) unforeseeable exceptional circumstances (equipment failure, acts of nature). Exemption not available for employees under 16.
- Employers who rely on an exemption must instead provide adequate paid periods for rest, eating and restroom use, and must provide employees a notice from the Secretary of Labor (in the employee’s working language); employers must retain a copy of the notice during employment and for six months after termination.
Rest periods
Waiver and collective bargaining
Enforcement and penalties
Fiscal and operational impacts (from fiscal note)
- Kansas Department of Labor anticipates wage claim caseload could double; estimates increased expenditures of $300,000 from the State General Fund beginning FY 2026, and the need for 3 additional full‑time positions to handle claim investigations and related operations.
- Potential new civil penalty revenue is possible but not estimated; any collections would deposit to the State General Fund.
- Department of Administration: many state agencies already follow similar practices; implementing consistent statewide policy and payroll tracking would be required but could be done within existing resources (though it may reduce flexible scheduling).
- Board of Regents: no fiscal impact; Kansas Department of Education: some school districts may need to adjust schedules if teachers do not receive uninterrupted 30‑minute lunches.
- League of Kansas Municipalities and Kansas Association of Counties: potential fiscal impacts for local governments/employers but no statewide estimate provided.
Who would be affected
- All Kansas employers and employees (private employers, state agencies, local governments, school districts), with specific exemptions and collective bargaining options noted.
- Enforcement burden and costs primarily fall to the Kansas Department of Labor.
Timeline notes
- Introduced Jan 29, 2025; fiscal estimate provided Feb 20, 2025. Further action will depend on committee proceedings and any amendments.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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