Employer That "Does Business" In Kentucky Subject To Kentucky's Wage & Hour Statute

In Himmelheber v. ev3, Inc., a Kentucky federal court ruled that Kentucky's Wage and Hour statute has application even to non-resident employers and employees.  

In Himmelheber, the plaintiff was an Indiana resident who worked for a company called ev3, which  is headquartered in Minnesota but which does some business in Kentucky.  Plaintiff was customarily paid in Indiana under the wage and hour laws of Indiana.  The plaintiff was ultimately terminated and subsequently filed suit in Kentucky claiming she was discriminated against in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act and was not paid owed wages in violation of Kentucky Wage and Hour laws.  The  federal court recently dismissed the discrimination claim on the grounds that ev3 was not an "employer" under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act because it did not employ the requisite number of employees in Kentucky for the requisite time period.  The Court, however, did not dismiss plaintiff's wage claim even though it appears plaintiff did not regularly do much work in Kentucky and in fact was an Indiana resident and was paid in Indiana under Indiana wage and hour laws.  Notwithstanding these facts, the Court allowed the wage claim to proceed because Kentucky's Wage and Hour statute applies to employers who "do business" in Kentucky, which included ev3, and does not expressly preclude claims which call for extraterritorial application of the statute.  

Posted by: David L. Hoskins

Categories: Kentucky