Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog
According to the United States Department of Labor, minimum wage would need to $11.00 per hour to equal the same spending power to equal its buying power of the late 1960s. Currently the minimum wage is only $7.25 and for tipped employees, it remains $2.13. It has in fact, not been increased since 1991. $2.13 in 2105 is equivalent in spending power as $1.21 in 1991.
So many workers in America rely on their tips to survive. Servers, delivery drivers, bartenders, hotel workers, etc. Unfortunately for these workers, the law often allows for employers to pay them at a rate much lower than the standard minimum wage. The Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (which must be at least $2.13) and the federal minimum wage. Tipped employees are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips.
One thing that needs to be clear to all tipped employees: “Tips are the property of the employee”.
