2016 Delaware Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2016 Delaware Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.23.
Effective 2016-01-01Source: Delaware Department of Labor Labor Law Poster (Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs)Verified 2026-09-01
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Delaware
What changed this year, and why
Delaware's minimum cash wage for tipped employees
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Delaware in 2016?
- The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Delaware was $2.23 per hour in 2016. The employer must be able to prove that the employee received the balance of the full minimum wage rate in tips.
- Is Delaware's tipped cash wage higher than the federal tipped cash wage?
- Yes. Delaware's minimum cash wage for tipped employees is higher than the cash wage required by federal law. Employers must pay Delaware's higher rate.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, a person working in Delaware counts as a tipped employee only if the job they hold is one in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This threshold is what separates a tipped worker — who may be paid a lower cash wage as long as tips bring them up to at least the minimum wage — from a worker who must receive the full minimum wage in direct pay from the employer. Whether someone meets the definition is judged by what they actually receive in tips, not by what the employer assumes or projects. If tips in a given month fall below $30, the employee is not a tipped employee for that period, and the employer cannot apply a tip credit for those weeks. The $30-a-month figure comes from the federal statute and applies in Delaware alongside the state's own cash-wage rule.
Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is an employee engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
A tip credit lets an employer count a portion of the tips you receive toward its obligation to pay you the minimum wage. Instead of paying the full minimum wage from its own funds, the employer pays you a direct cash wage and claims a credit for your tips up to a set amount. In Delaware, the minimum cash wage an employer must pay a tipped worker is $2.23 per hour. Under the federal FLSA, the tip credit is the difference between that cash wage and the federal minimum wage. The employer can only take this credit if your cash wage plus your tips together reach at least the full minimum wage for every hour you work in each workweek. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation; the employer cannot assume or project tips you have not yet earned.
An employer can take an FLSA tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage, or the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee, and the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
If your tips plus your employer's cash wage do not bring you up to the full minimum wage in a given workweek, the employer is required to make up whatever is missing. In Delaware, the minimum cash wage is $2.23 per hour, and the tip credit fills the gap between that and the full minimum wage. But if your actual tips are less than the tip credit amount, your total compensation for that workweek falls short. At that point, the employer cannot shortchange you — it must pay the difference out of its own funds so that your combined earnings equal at least the minimum wage for every hour worked that week. This requirement is calculated workweek by workweek; a strong week does not offset a weak one.
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
Before an employer in Delaware can claim a tip credit — paying the cash wage of $2.23 per hour rather than the full minimum wage — it must first inform the tipped employee of specific facts about how the arrangement works. The notice must tell the employee the amount of cash wage being paid, the additional amount the employer is claiming as a tip credit, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips actually received, that all tips belong to the employee except for contributions to a valid tip pool, and that the tip credit will not apply unless the employee has been told all of this. The employer may give this notice orally or in writing, but it must happen before payroll is processed. If the employer fails to provide this notice, it loses the right to take the tip credit entirely and must pay the full minimum wage in cash.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA:
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
When Delaware's own labor law and the federal FLSA set different rules for tipped employees, the employer must follow whichever standard is most protective of the worker. In practice this means that if Delaware requires a higher cash wage than federal law does, or if Delaware offers tipped employees broader protections, the employer must comply with Delaware's rule. For 2016, Delaware requires employers to pay tipped workers a minimum cash wage of $2.23 per hour. Because this is more protective than the federal floor, Delaware employers must pay the $2.23 cash wage regardless of what the federal rule would allow. An employer cannot pick the more lenient of the two laws; the employee always receives the benefit of the higher standard.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
Under the tip-pooling rules that apply when an employer in Delaware takes a tip credit and pays the tipped cash wage of $2.23 per hour, the employer may require tipped workers to contribute into a tip pool only if the pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. Eligible occupations include waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. Managers and supervisors may not receive any share of the pool, and the employer itself may not keep any of the pooled tips. The employer must tell employees what contribution is required and may only take a tip credit based on the tips each tipped employee ultimately receives after the pool is distributed. A Delaware worker who is not in a traditionally tipped occupation cannot be required to share tips with kitchen staff, dishwashers, or other back-of-house employees who do not customarily receive tips under this traditional pool arrangement.
Traditional Tip Pooling: An employer that takes a tip credit can require tipped employees to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
Under federal rules that apply in Delaware, an employee who works two distinct jobs for the same employer — for example, a hotel maintenance worker who also serves tables — is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. The worker holds two separate occupations, and the employer may apply the tip credit (paying the tipped cash wage of $2.23 per hour) only to the hours spent in the tipped occupation. No tip credit can be taken for the hours the same person works as a maintenance person; for those hours the employer must pay at least the full minimum wage. This is different from a server who also performs related duties such as cleaning tables, toasting bread, or making coffee — those tasks are part of the tipped occupation itself. For Delaware workers splitting time between a tipped job and a non-tipped job at the same employer, the employer must track which hours belong to which role and may take the tip credit only on the tipped hours.
In such a situation the employee, if they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for their work as a server, is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. The worker is employed in two occupations, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours of employment in their occupation as a maintenance person.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Delaware Department of Labor Labor Law Poster (Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs)
- Minimum cash wage
The minimum cash wage payable to employees who receive tips is $ 2.23 per hour, effective 10/1/96.
Other years
Every Delaware Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state