What if a tipped employee's tips plus the cash wage don't reach the full minimum wage?

Employers must pay at least $2.63 per hour in direct wages, and the employee's tips must bring total earnings to at least the full minimum wage. If tips fall short, the employer must make up the difference.

Is the employer responsible for tracking tips?

Yes. The employer must keep accurate tip records.

2025 Arkansas Tipped Minimum Wage

Name: 2025 Arkansas Tipped Minimum Wage
Creator: DOL

The 2025 Arkansas Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.63.

Minimum cash wage$2.63

Effective 2025-01-01Source: Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)Verified 2026-08-30

Compared with 2024

Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2024.

Item	2024	2025	Change
Minimum cash wage	$2.63	$2.63	+$0 (+0.0%)

Who it applies to

Tipped employees in Arkansas

What changed this year, and why

For 2025, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Arkansas is $2.63 per hour.

Common questions

What if a tipped employee's tips plus the cash wage don't reach the full minimum wage?: Employers must pay at least $2.63 per hour in direct wages, and the employee's tips must bring total earnings to at least the full minimum wage. If tips fall short, the employer must make up the difference.
Is the employer responsible for tracking tips?: Yes. The employer must keep accurate tip records.

Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Tips needed per hour takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.

What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it

In Arkansas, when an employer uses a tip credit, the worker must still receive at least $2.63 per hour in direct pay from the employer. The tip credit is the difference between that direct cash wage and the full minimum wage, and the employer can only count it toward its minimum wage obligation to the extent the worker's tips are enough to bring the total up to the full minimum wage per hour. If the tips plus the $2.63 cash wage do not add up to the full minimum wage in a given hour, the employer is required to pay the shortfall out of its own pocket, so the employee's total earnings for that hour equal at least the full minimum wage. The employer must keep accurate records of the tips the worker receives in order to show that the tip credit has been properly calculated. This ensures that no matter how busy or slow a shift is, the worker in Arkansas always walks away with at least the full minimum wage for each hour worked.

Tipped employees must be paid at least $2.63 per hour. The tips they earn must be enough to bring them up to the applicable minimum wage per hour.
Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)

When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage

In Arkansas, if a tipped worker's tips plus the employer's cash wage of $2.63 per hour do not add up to the full minimum wage for a given hour, the employer must make up the difference by adding enough to the worker's paycheck to bring the total up to the full minimum wage. The employer cannot simply pay the lower cash wage and leave the worker to absorb slow shifts or small tips. This makeup obligation applies hour by hour, so the worker's total earnings for each hour worked must reach at least the full minimum wage. The employer is responsible for keeping accurate records of the tips received so it can calculate whether the tips plus the $2.63 cash wage are sufficient. If the records show that the tips fell short, the employer must pay the extra amount owed. This rule ensures that tipped employees in Arkansas never earn less than the full minimum wage for the time they actually work, no matter how generous or stingy the customers happen to be on any given day.

If the tips do not bring them up to minimum wage, the employer must add enough to their pay to do so.
Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)

When state law gives more than the federal rule

In Arkansas, when an employer is covered by both state and federal minimum wage laws, it must comply with the standard most protective to employees. This means that if federal law provides a higher minimum wage, a smaller tip credit, or better protections for tipped workers than Arkansas law, the employer must follow the federal rule. The current minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Arkansas is $2.63 per hour. If federal law required a higher cash wage or placed additional restrictions on how tips could be used, Arkansas employers would still have to follow the federal standard because it would be more protective. Workers in Arkansas are entitled to whichever rule—state or federal—gives them higher pay or better conditions. This principle ensures that tipped employees always receive the maximum protection available under either law, rather than being limited to whichever standard happens to be lower.

An employer covered by both laws must pay the highest minimum wage.
Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)

Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips

In Arkansas, the employer must keep accurate records of the tips that tipped employees receive. This recordkeeping requirement is the employer's responsibility, not the employee's. While the document does not specifically address tip pooling arrangements, the requirement that employers maintain accurate tip records applies to all tip-related compensation. In practice, this means that if an employer requires participation in a tip pool, the employer must track and document how tips are collected and distributed among the participating employees. The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Arkansas is $2.63 per hour, and the employer's records must show that each worker's tips plus this cash wage add up to at least the full minimum wage. If the records reveal discrepancies or if tips are not properly accounted for, the employer may be liable for back wages. This documentation requirement gives Arkansas workers a way to verify that their tip arrangements are being handled correctly and that they are receiving at least the minimum wage.

It is the employer’s responsibility to keep accurate tip records.
Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)

Which tip pools you can be made to join

In Arkansas, tip pooling arrangements must comply with the requirement that tipped employees receive at least $2.63 per hour in direct wages and that their tips bring them up to the full minimum wage per hour. While the document does not specify which employees can participate in tip pools, the employer's responsibility to keep accurate tip records applies to any tip-sharing arrangement. This means that if an employer requires tipped workers to participate in a tip pool, the employer must track how tips are collected from customers and distributed among the pool participants. The records must show that each worker in the pool still receives at least the full minimum wage when their share of pooled tips is added to the $2.63 cash wage. If the tip pool arrangement causes any worker's total compensation to fall below the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. This recordkeeping requirement ensures that tip pooling in Arkansas does not result in workers earning less than they are entitled to under state law.

Tipped employees must be paid at least $2.63 per hour. The tips they earn must be enough to bring them up to the applicable minimum wage per hour. If the tips do not bring them up to minimum wage, the employer must add enough to their pay to do so. It is the employer’s responsibility to keep accurate tip records.
Minimum Wage and Overtime (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing)

Doing two jobs for one employer

In Arkansas, when an employee performs both tipped and non-tipped work for the same employer, the rules about the $2.63 per hour minimum cash wage and tip credit apply only to the hours spent in tipped occupations. The document states that tipped employees must be paid at least $2.63 per hour and that their tips must bring them up to the applicable minimum wage per hour. For hours spent in non-tipped work, such as cleaning, preparation, or maintenance duties, the employer cannot take a tip credit and must pay the full minimum wage. The employer must keep accurate tip records to show which tips were earned during tipped work and ensure that the worker receives at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked. This means that a server who also spends time doing non-tipped tasks must receive the full minimum wage for those non-tipped hours, even though the employer can pay the lower cash wage for the hours spent serving tables and taking tips.