Opinion ID: 2570791
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Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Kansas Wage Payment Law and Limited Liability Company Enabling Statutes

Text: In 1973, the Kansas Legislature repealed the prior payment and compensation laws and enacted the Kansas Wage Payment Law. Since 1973, with certain modifications which are not applicable to this case, the Kansas Wage Payment Law has defined employer as: [a]ny individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, the administrator or executor of the estate of a deceased individual, or the receiver, trustee, or successor of any of the same, the state of Kansas or any department, agency or authority of the state, any city, county, school district or other political subdivision, municipality or public corporation and any instrumentality thereof, employing any person. K.S.A. 44-313. In 1990, the Kansas Legislature created the Kansas Limited Liability Company Act, K.S.A. 17-7601 et seq. The legislature did not amend the Kansas Wage Payment Law's definition of an employer to include a limited liability company. The 1999 Kansas Legislature repealed the Kansas Limited Liability Company Act and adopted the Kansas Revised Limited Liability Company Act, K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 17-7662 et seq. Again, the legislature did not amend the definition of an employer in the wage payment law to include a limited liability company. In our analysis, we reference the Kansas Limited Liability Act which was in effect at the time of the hearing officer's order finding members of a limited liability company responsible for unpaid wages under K.S.A. 44-323(b).