2024 Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2024 Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Individuals FAQs - Fair Labor Standards Act (Georgia Department of Labor)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2023
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2023.
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers in Georgia who have tipped employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act
What changed this year, and why
The 2024 minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Georgia is $2.13 per hour, set by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Georgia for 2024?
- The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Georgia is $2.13 per hour, the federal rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If this amount plus tips does not reach the federal minimum wage for every hour worked, the employer must pay the difference.
- What happens if a tipped employee's tips do not bring their total pay up to the federal minimum wage?
- An employer must make up the difference between the $2.13 cash wage plus tips and the federal minimum wage if the employee's tips are not enough to close the gap.
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.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under federal law, a tipped employee in Georgia is someone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This threshold determines whether the federal tipped-employee rules apply to a worker. If a Georgia employee meets this test, the employer may pay a cash wage below the full federal minimum wage and claim a tip credit, as long as the employee's tips and cash wages together reach at least the minimum wage each workweek. The $30-a-month figure counts only tips actually received by the employee. A worker who does not regularly earn tips above that level is not a tipped employee under these rules and is owed the full minimum wage regardless of any tips received.
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
In Georgia, the tip credit is the amount an employer can count from your tips toward its obligation to pay you the minimum wage. The federal rule lets an employer take a tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage it pays you in cash and the full minimum wage. The employer must pay you a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. The tip credit bridges the gap between that cash wage and the minimum wage you are owed. Only tips you actually receive count toward this calculation. If you are a tipped employee in Georgia, your employer can pay you $2.13 per hour in cash and use your tips to make up the rest of the minimum wage obligation, but it must ensure that your cash wage plus your tips together reach at least the full minimum wage for every hour you work in each workweek.
An employer must pay a tipped worker at least $2.13 per hour under the FLSA. 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
In Georgia, your employer must guarantee that you receive at least the full minimum wage in every workweek, combining the cash wages it pays you and the tips you earn. If your tips combined with the employer's direct cash wages fall short of the minimum hourly wage in any workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This means that even though your employer may pay you a reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour and rely on a tip credit, it cannot shift the risk of slow business or low tips onto you. If in a particular week your cash wages plus your tips do not reach the full minimum wage for all hours worked, your employer owes you the shortfall out of its own funds. This protection applies on a workweek-by-workweek basis, so a bad week cannot be averaged out by a good 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 your employer in Georgia can take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you specific notice. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the cash wage the employer is paying you (which must be at least $2.13 per hour), the additional amount it is claiming as a tip credit, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received, that all your tips belong to you except for valid tip-pooling contributions, and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these provisions. The notice can be oral or written, but if the employer fails to provide it, it cannot use the tip credit at all. That means it would owe you the full minimum wage in cash, regardless of how much you earned in tips. This is a procedural requirement that protects your right to know how your pay is being calculated.
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; the additional amount claimed by the employer as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12 (the difference between the minimum required direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 and the current minimum wage of $7.25);
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Georgia, when a state law provides greater protection than the federal rule, the employer must follow the more worker-friendly standard. The federal rule states that when state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. For example, if Georgia required a higher cash wage than the federal $2.13 per hour or prohibited the tip credit entirely, that state rule would control. However, Georgia currently follows the federal approach, so the federal minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour and the tip credit mechanism apply. The principle remains that you are always entitled to whichever rule, state or federal, puts more money in your pocket or gives you stronger protections. Employers cannot pick and choose; they must apply the rule that benefits you most.
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, your tips belong to you, not to your employer, your manager, or your supervisor. The federal rule is clear: 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. This means your employer cannot require you to hand over your tips to the business, to a manager, or to a supervisor, even if the employer pays you the full minimum wage in cash and takes no tip credit at all. The rule is absolute: tips earned by tipped employees must remain with those employees, subject only to valid tip-pooling arrangements among workers who customarily receive tips. If your employer, manager, or supervisor keeps any of your tips, that is a violation of federal law, and you are entitled to recover those amounts.
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 an employer takes a tip credit, it can require you to participate in a traditional tip pool, but only if the pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. That means the pool can include waiters, bussers, service bartenders, bellhops, and counter personnel who serve customers, but it cannot include back-of-house workers who do not customarily receive tips, such as cooks or dishwashers. If your employer requires you to contribute your tips to a pool that includes non-tipped employees, it violates the rule and may lose its right to take the tip credit. The employer must also notify you of any required tip-pool contribution amount and may only claim a tip credit based on the tips you actually retain after the pool is distributed. In Georgia, these federal restrictions apply because the state does not impose additional limitations on tip pooling beyond the federal baseline.
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, if you work two different jobs for the same employer — for example, you work as a maintenance worker and also as a server — you are a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. That means your employer can take a tip credit and pay you the lower cash wage of $2.13 per hour only for the hours you actually spend serving. For the hours you work in your other occupation, such as maintenance, no tip credit can be taken, and your employer must pay you the full minimum wage. The rule prevents employers from blurring the lines between tipped and non-tipped work. If you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for your server role, you are classified as a tipped employee for that role, but your non-tipped hours are protected and must be compensated at the full minimum wage rate. This distinction ensures that employers cannot use a tip credit to underpay you for work in an occupation where you do not receive tips.
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.
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
Other years
Every Georgia Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state