Q: How are restaurants able to pay their servers about $2 an hour? Is it about tips from customers?
—Julie Super, Peachtree City
A: Tipped employees are workers who regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips, the U.S. Department of Labor states.
Employers are required to pay servers at least $2.13 an hour in most states and can be called on to prove that servers make an additional $5.12 in tips per hour to reach the national minimum wage of $7.25.
Tips belong to the employee, and while a staff can pool and divide tips, only tipped employees can receive a share. (An employer can’t take a share of the wait staff’s tips to pay the janitor, for example.)
The Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the minimum wage for servers, applies in all 50 states, but several states have adopted their own standards, which can be viewed here: dol.gov/whd/state/tipped2013.htm.
The way the government has calculated the cash rate servers must be paid has changed through the years.
Department of Labor spokesman Michael D’Aquino provided background to Q&A on the News.
From 1966 to 1996, the minimum wage for employees who receive tips was tied to the overall minimum wage. Tipped employees received a percentage of the overall minimum wage, so the minimum wage for servers changed with any increases to the overall minimum wage.
In 1996, the regulation changed to make the cash wage for tipped employees a flat $2.13, which was half of the overall minimum wage at the time. The language specifically ties the rate to the minimum wage on Aug. 20, 1996.
Allison Floyd with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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