2015 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2015 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2015-01-01Source: Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)Verified 2026-08-31
Who it applies to
Kentucky employers who pay tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
For 2015, Kentucky's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remains $2.13 per hour.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Kentucky in 2015?
- The minimum cash wage is $2.13 per hour. An employer may pay this amount to a tipped employee, provided that when tips are added to the cash wage, the employee receives at least the full minimum wage.
- What happens if tips plus the cash wage do not reach the full minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so the employee receives at least the full minimum wage.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In Kentucky, the Education and Labor Cabinet recognizes only one kind of worker as a "tipped employee" for purposes of the reduced cash wage: someone who works in an occupation where tips come in routinely and exceed $30 in a given month. If your job does not produce tips at that pace — for example, if you are a server some weeks and a host other weeks, and the tips in the server weeks stay below $30 — your employer cannot pay you the $2.13 tipped cash wage. The $30 threshold is measured each month, so an occasional slow month can take you out of tipped status for that period. Meeting the test is what lets the employer treat your wages under the tipped-employee rules described elsewhere on this page, including the $2.13 minimum cash wage. If your occupation simply does not customarily and regularly yield tips above that amount, the regular minimum wage applies from the first hour.
Any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips, the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
Kentucky allows employers to claim a tip credit, meaning they can count a worker's tips toward the state minimum wage rather than paying the full minimum wage out of pocket. The employer must still pay a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. The tip credit is the difference between that $2.13 cash wage and the full minimum wage — in other words, the employer pays $2.13 directly and treats the rest of the minimum wage as coming from the employee's tips. If the employee's tips plus the $2.13 cash wage do not add up to at least the full minimum wage for any workweek, the employer must pay the shortfall. This floor protects tipped workers in Kentucky from earning less than the minimum wage once their tips and cash wages are combined.
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Kentucky requires that a tipped employee's total earnings — the $2.13 per hour cash wage plus all tips received — must reach at least the minimum wage for every workweek in which the employer claims a tip credit. If your tips in a particular week are low enough that the combined total falls below the minimum wage, the employer is responsible for covering the gap. The employer cannot average busy weeks against slow weeks; the test applies to each individual workweek. This safeguard ensures that the risk of a bad tip week falls on the employer, not on you as the worker. Your employer must keep records that document both the cash wage paid and the tips received for each week the credit is taken.
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
Kentucky law does not explicitly require employers to give notice before taking a tip credit, but the documentation requirement effectively creates a notice obligation. The employer must maintain records that establish, for each week the tip credit is claimed, that the employee's tips plus the $2.13 per hour cash wage equal at least the minimum wage. This means the employer has to track both the cash wage paid and the tips received on a weekly basis. If the employer cannot produce these records showing compliance, they cannot legally pay the reduced $2.13 cash wage. The burden of proof falls on the employer to demonstrate that the tip credit was properly calculated and that the employee received at least minimum wage for each workweek. Without proper documentation, the employer may be required to pay the full minimum wage retroactively.
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid, not less than the minimum wage is received by the employee.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
Kentucky law is clear: employers cannot take any portion of an employee's tips for themselves. The tips belong to the worker who received them. An employer cannot use tips to cover business expenses, pay other staff, or offset the minimum wage obligation beyond what the law allows. Managers and supervisors are included in this prohibition — they cannot keep any part of the tips their subordinates earn. The only exception is when the employer is withholding amounts required by federal or state law, such as taxes. Workers may voluntarily agree among themselves to share tips through a tip pool, and amounts kept by participants in such arrangements are treated as their individual tips. But the employer itself has no right to dip into the tip jar.
No employer shall: • Use all or part of any tips or gratuities received by employees toward the payment of the minimum wage. • Require an employee to remit to the employer any gratuity, or any portion thereof, except for the purpose of withholding amoun ts required by federal or state law.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Kentucky, an employer can require employees to participate in a tip pool, but there are strict rules about how that pool must be handled. The account holding the tip pool must be kept separate from the employer's other business records - no commingling of funds. Additionally, the employer must make that account open and accessible to everyone who participates in the pool, so workers can see what's been collected and distributed. This transparency requirement prevents employers from hiding tip pool money or using it for other purposes. The law also allows employees to voluntarily agree among themselves to divide their tips, and when they do, the amounts each person keeps count as that individual's tips. The key point is that while tip pooling is permitted, it must be conducted openly and separately from the employer's regular business accounts.
If an employer requires the use of a tip pool, then the account used to hold the tip pool shall be segregated from the employer’s other business records and the employer shall make the account open to the pool’s participants.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In Kentucky, an employee who works two different jobs for the same employer is only considered a tipped employee when working in the job where they regularly receive tips. For example, if you work as a server for part of your shift and as a cook for another part, you're only a tipped employee during your server hours. Your employer can only pay you the $2.13 tipped minimum wage for the time you spend in the tipped occupation. For the hours you work in the non-tipped job, your employer must pay you at least the full minimum wage. This prevents employers from blurring the lines between tipped and non-tipped work to pay lower wages across the board. The tip credit applies only to the occupation where you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips, not to all the work you do for that employer.
Any employee engaged in an occupation in which more than $30 dollars per month is customarily and regularly received in tips
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
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.
Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)
- Minimum cash wage
the employer may pay a minimum of $2.13 per hour if the employer' records can establish
Other years
Every Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state