Attorney
State and federal wage laws have different rules for tipped employees compared to non-tipped employees. Workers who work in jobs that traditionally receive tips should know their rights under the wage laws to ensure they receive the full compensation due to them from their employers.
Understanding Federal and State Rules
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act has specific guidelines for tipped employees, which the law defines as an employee engaged in an occupation that customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips. The FLSA allows employers to take a “tip credit” toward their minimum wage and overtime obligations for tipped employees. However, an employer must ensure that the employee receives enough tips and direct wages to meet minimum wage and overtime requirements. Furthermore, recent changes to federal tax law now exempt tips and overtime pay from federal income tax.
Connecticut wage and hour laws also allow employers to take a tip credit for restaurant and hotel service waitstaff or bartenders. Employers must pay service waitstaff at least $6.38 per hour in direct wages and bartenders at least $8.23 per hour in direct wages. However, employers must ensure that tipped employees receive direct wages and tips equal to the Connecticut minimum wage of $16.35 per hour (in 2025) for the workweek in which they received the wages and tips.
Employer Requirements
Connecticut employers must separate the time that an employee spends performing tipped and non-tipped duties. Connecticut does not allow employers to take a tip credit for any portion of an employee’s time spent performing tasks unrelated to tipped duties when those tasks do not occur during or immediately before or after the employee’s tipped duties. Employers must also obtain a tip credit statement from tipped employees stating they earned tips during the pay period; otherwise, the employer cannot take a tip credit.
Tip Pooling and Sharing Rules
Federal and Connecticut law also permit employers to establish tip pools among their tipped employees. A “tip pool” requires tipped workers to contribute a portion of their tips to the pool, which the employer then divides among eligible employees. Employers must notify tipped employees in advance of the workplace’s tip pool. They may not require employees to contribute more than a customary or reasonable amount of their tips to the pool.
Furthermore, employers can only take a tip credit against the tips that the employee gets to keep or receives from the tip pool. Tipped employees do not have to share tips through a tip pool with other employees who do not customarily receive tips. Salaried employees, such as managers or supervisors, cannot receive distributions from a tip pool.
Who Can Become a Tipped Employee?
Only restaurant or hotel service workers and bartenders may qualify as “tipped” employees in Connecticut for purposes of the employer’s tip credit. However, salaried employees typically do not receive tips, and an employer cannot take a tip credit against a salaried employee’s salary.
Tipped employees may also work in dual roles for an employer, performing both tipped and non-tipped work. Tipped work typically involves serving customers and cleaning or maintaining customer seating areas. In contrast, non-tipped work may include cleaning areas outside the serving area, washing dishes, glassware, or silverware, handling takeout orders, or greeting and seating customers. Employers may only take tip credits for non-tipped work that occurs alongside, immediately before, or immediately after an employee’s tipped work.
Contact an Employment Law Attorney Today
If you receive tips at work or your employer takes a tip credit on your paycheck, understanding the applicable wage laws for tipped employees can help you protect your rights to fair compensation for your work. Contact Mitchell, Sheahan & Slippen, P.C., today for an initial consultation with a wage and hour lawyer to learn more about how we can help you pursue the full compensation due to you under the law.