A restaurant must provide notice before paying waitstaff a tipped minimum wage.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a restaurant can take a “tip credit” towards its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (which must be at least $2.13 under the FLSA) and the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. It is important to note that certain states provide a higher minimum wage for servers, including New York, where the minimum wage rate and tip credit amounts depend on where the restaurant is located and, in New York City, the size of the restaurant:
NY City – Restaurant (11 or more employees)
- Full. Min. Wage Rate (as of 12/31/20)
Long Island and Westchester County
--- Full. Min. Wage Rate (as of 12/31/20)
Rest of New York State
--- Full. Min. Wage Rate (as of 12/31/20)
In order for a restaurant to take a tip credit, it must provide notice of the following information to a tipped employee: