HB 303/LM (BR 1059) - M. Marzian, M. Cantrell, A. Scott

     AN ACT relating to wages.
     Amend KRS 337.010, relating to the definition of "employees" of retail stores and service industries, to increase the applicable threshold of business that applies to from $95,000 to $500,000; amend KRS 337.275 to raise the state minimum wage to not less than $8.80 an hour on August 1, 2018, not less than $10.35 an hour beginning on August 1, 2019, not less than $11.90 an hour beginning on August 1, 2020, not less than $13.45 an hour beginning on August 1, 2021, and not less than $15.00 per hour beginning on August 1, 2022; amend KRS 337.420 to define "equivalent jobs" as those that are equal under the federal Equal Pay Act, or jobs that are dissimilar but equivalent in skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions; amend KRS 337.423 to prohibit wage discrimination on the basis of sex, race, or national origin by prohibiting wage differentials for employees who perform equivalent jobs; provide exceptions for wage differentials based on seniority or merit systems, systems that measure wages by quantity or quality of production, and factors other than sex, race, or national origin; amend KRS 337.425 to require the promulgation of administrative regulations to specify criteria for determining jobs that are dominated by employees of a particular sex, race, or national origin, and acceptable methodology for determining equivalent skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions; require that the administrative regulations be promulgated on or before July 1, 2019; provide the amendments to KRS 337.423 are EFFECTIVE July 1, 2020.