2017 Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2017 Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2016
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2016.
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Indiana employers that pay tipped employees and claim a tip credit under the Indiana Minimum Wage Law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage that Indiana employers must pay tipped employees who are subject to a tip credit remains $2.13 per hour for 2017.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Indiana for 2017?
- Employers that claim a tip credit must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour.
- What if tips plus the cash wage do not equal the minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so that the employee receives at least the full minimum wage.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
Indiana law allows employers to claim a tip credit when paying workers who receive tips as part of their job. Instead of paying the full minimum wage, an employer can pay a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour and count the employee's tips toward meeting the minimum wage requirement. The tip credit is the gap between what the employer pays directly and the full minimum wage. However, this system only works if the employee actually receives enough in tips to bring their total compensation up to at least the minimum wage. If the combination of the $2.13 hourly cash wage plus the tips falls short of the minimum wage for any pay period, the Indiana employer is legally required to pay the difference out of their own funds. This rule ensures that tipped employees in Indiana always earn at least the minimum wage for every hour they work, regardless of how much they receive in customer tips.
Generally, employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour if the employer claims a tip credit.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Indiana law protects tipped workers from ending up below the minimum wage because of slow business or small tips. When a tipped employee's tips combined with the hourly wage paid by the employer do not add up to the full minimum wage for the hours worked, the employer is required to make up the shortfall. In practice, this means that even though the employer may pay as little as $2.13 per hour in direct cash wages, the worker is still guaranteed to receive at least the minimum wage once tips and the employer's catch-up payments are counted together. The employer cannot use a bad tip night as a reason to pay the worker less than the minimum wage; the risk of low tips falls on the employer, not the employee. This rule applies in Indiana because the state follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's approach to tipped employees and tip credits.
If the employee’s tips combined with the hourly wage do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
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.
Indiana Minimum Wage Law (Indiana Department of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
Generally, employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour if the employer claims a tip credit.
Other years
Every Indiana Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state