Kansas preempts local minimum-wage and living-wage ordinances under KSA 44-1203, so Wichita cannot mandate a hotel-specific living wage; lodging workers earn the federal $7.25 floor unless employers pay more voluntarily.
Unlike Los Angeles or Long Beach, Wichita has no hotel-worker living-wage ordinance because Kansas state law preempts cities from setting local minimum wages above the state floor. KSA 44-1203 sets the Kansas minimum wage at $7.25 per hour, identical to the federal rate, and bars municipalities from enacting higher local wage standards. Hotel employers near McConnell Air Force Base, Old Town, and the Wichita State campus are subject only to federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Kansas wage-payment rules. Tipped wages may be as low as $2.13 with tip credit.
There is no local enforcement; complaints about unpaid wages go to the Kansas Department of Labor or U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.
See how Wichita's hotel living wage rules stack up against other locations.
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