2020 Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2020 Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2020-01-01Source: Individuals FAQs - Fair Labor Standards Act (Georgia Department of Labor)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2019
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2019.
| Item | 2019 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Georgia
What changed this year, and why
The federal minimum cash wage for tipped employees remained $2.13 per hour in 2020.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Georgia in 2020?
- Employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour in direct wages, provided that amount plus tips equals at least the federal minimum wage for each hour worked. If the combined total falls short, the employer must make up the difference.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under federal law, a tipped employee is someone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. In Georgia, this definition determines whether an employer may pay the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour and take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation. If you do not meet this threshold—for example, if your tips in a typical month fall below that amount—your employer must pay you the full minimum wage for all hours worked and cannot count your tips toward that obligation. The definition focuses on the occupation itself, not on whether you happen to receive tips in every single week, but on whether receiving tips is a regular and customary part of the work you do.
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
Federal law allows employers in Georgia to pay tipped workers a direct cash wage of $2.13 per hour and claim a tip credit equal to the difference between that cash wage and the full minimum wage. The tip credit lets the employer count a portion of the tips you receive from customers toward its obligation to pay you the minimum wage. However, an employer can only use this arrangement if it can demonstrate that your cash wages plus your tips add up to at least the full minimum wage for every workweek. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. The employer's cash wage of $2.13 per hour is the floor—it cannot go lower. The maximum tip credit the employer can claim is limited by the gap between the $2.13 cash wage and the full minimum wage. If the tip credit it claims would push your total compensation below the minimum wage, it must make up the shortfall.
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. The maximum tip credit that an employer can currently claim is $5.12 per hour: ($7.25 - $2.13 direct (or cash) wage = $5.12).
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Even when a Georgia employer takes a tip credit, it must verify every workweek that your combined cash wages and tips reach at least the full minimum wage. If in any given week your tips combined with the $2.13 per hour cash wage fall short of the minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. This protection operates on a workweek-by-workweek basis, so a slow week with few tips cannot be averaged against a busy week with generous tips. The employer bears the burden of proving the shortfall was covered. If your employer fails to pay the difference, it has violated the law for that week, regardless of whether your annual or monthly earnings might have averaged out to the minimum wage overall.
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 a Georgia employer can take a tip credit, it must give you specific notice containing several pieces of information. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit: the cash wage it is paying (at least $2.13 per hour), the additional amount it claims as a tip credit, confirmation that the credit cannot exceed your actual tips, notice that you keep all tips except for valid tip pooling, and a statement that the credit will not apply unless you receive this information. The employer can deliver this notice orally or in writing, but if it fails to provide all required items, it forfeits the right to take the tip credit entirely and must pay the full minimum wage. This notice requirement ensures you understand how your pay is being calculated before it happens. Without proper advance notice, the tip credit is simply not available to the employer for that pay period.
Notice to Tipped Employees: Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the amount of the direct (or cash) wage the employer is paying a tipped employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour;
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
Federal law sets the floor, but when state law differs from the federal rule, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. In Georgia, if state law provides a higher cash wage or a greater minimum wage for tipped workers than what federal law requires, the employer must follow whichever rule gives you more pay. Some states require employers to pay tipped workers the full minimum wage with no tip credit at all; others mandate a higher cash wage than the federal $2.13. Where Georgia law is silent or provides less protection, the federal FLSA rules apply. The principle is straightforward: you are always entitled to the more favorable rule. An employer operating in Georgia cannot cherry-pick between federal and state law to pay you less than the better standard requires.
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)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In Georgia, federal law bars employers — including managers, supervisors, and business owners — from taking any share of the tips you earn, no matter what. This rule applies whether your employer claims a tip credit or pays the full federal minimum wage outright. Your tips belong to you. An employer cannot require you to hand them over, and it cannot use a tip pool as a back door to siphon any portion away to the house. The protection covers both tips taken directly and tips flowing through a shared pool. Managers, supervisors, and owners who hold a significant equity stake in the business are all treated the same way for this purpose: none of them may receive any part of a tip pool or keep tips earned by workers. If you work in Georgia and your employer, manager, or supervisor takes any portion of your tips, the FLSA prohibits it.
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Georgia, when your employer takes a tip credit against the federal minimum wage — meaning it pays you the tipped cash wage of $2.13 per hour and counts your tips toward the rest — any mandatory tip pool it imposes on you must be limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips in their own occupations. That means your contributions can go only to other traditionally tipped workers such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. The pool may not include cooks, dishwashers, janitors, or other back-of-house staff who do not customarily receive tips. Your employer must also notify you of the required contribution amount, may take a tip credit only for the tips you ultimately retain after the pool is distributed, and may not keep any of the pooled tips for itself. Managers, supervisors, and business owners are barred from participating in the pool as well.
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
In Georgia, when you hold two distinct jobs for the same employer — for example, working as a hotel maintenance person and also serving as a server — you are considered a tipped employee only for the job in which you customarily and regularly receive tips. To qualify, you must receive at least $30 a month in tips from that tipped role. For all your hours spent in the other, non-tipped occupation, your employer may not take a tip credit and must pay you at least the full federal minimum wage. The two roles must be genuinely separate occupations, not just related duties within a single tipped job. A server who also cleans tables, toasts bread, makes coffee, or occasionally washes dishes is still working within a single tipped occupation, and those related duties do not create a separate non-tipped job. The dual-job rule applies only when you are truly performing work in two different occupations for the same employer.
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.
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.
Individuals FAQs - Fair Labor Standards Act (Georgia Department of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages, if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage for each hour worked. If not, the employer must make up the difference.
Other years
Every Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state