2018 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2018 Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2018-01-01Source: Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet)Verified 2026-08-31
Compared with 2017
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2017.
| Item | 2017 | 2018 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Kentucky employers who pay tipped employees a cash wage below the full minimum wage
What changed this year, and why
Kentucky's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remains $2.13 per hour in 2018, unchanged from 2017.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Kentucky for 2018?
- In 2018, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Kentucky is $2.13 per hour. The employer must be able to show that the employee's tips, added to this cash wage, bring total hourly compensation to at least the full minimum wage. If the combined amount falls short, the employer must make up the difference.
- Did the tipped cash wage change from 2017 to 2018?
- No. The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Kentucky was also $2.13 per hour in 2017.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In Kentucky, a tipped employee is anyone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This threshold matters because it determines whether your employer is allowed to pay you the lower tipped minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour instead of the full minimum wage. If your tips regularly fall below $30 in a month, or if your job is not one where tipping is the norm, you are not considered a tipped employee under this rule and your employer must pay you at least the full minimum wage. The definition looks at what is customary and regular in your occupation, not just what happens to occur in an occasional busy month.
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
In Kentucky, an employer may pay a tipped employee a cash wage of $2.13 per hour instead of the full minimum wage, as long as the employee's tips make up the difference. This arrangement is sometimes called a tip credit. However, the employer must be able to show through its records that for each workweek, when tips are added to the cash wages paid, the employee receives at least the minimum wage. If the combined total falls short in any week, the employer must make up the difference so that the employee's total earnings meet or exceed the minimum wage for all hours worked that week.
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)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In Kentucky, if a tipped employee's cash wage of $2.13 per hour plus their tips do not add up to at least the minimum wage for a given workweek, the employer must make up the difference. The employer is required to keep records showing the employee's tips and wages for each week. If those records show that the total compensation fell below the minimum wage in any week, the employer cannot simply absorb that shortfall. The employee is entitled to receive at least the minimum wage for every hour worked, regardless of how much they earned in tips during that period.
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)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In Kentucky, employers who take a tip credit and pay the reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour must inform tipped employees about this arrangement. The employer must provide notice to employees before taking the tip credit. This notice requirement ensures that employees understand they are being paid below the standard minimum wage and that their employer is counting their tips toward meeting the minimum wage obligation. Without proper notice, the employer may not be able to legally claim the tip credit, which could mean they owe the employee the full minimum wage regardless of tips received.
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)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In Kentucky, employers, managers, and supervisors are prohibited from keeping any portion of their employees' tips. All tips received by tipped employees belong to those employees, not to the business or its management. Even when an employer pays the reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour and takes a tip credit, the tips themselves remain the property of the employee who received them. An employer cannot use employees' tips for business expenses, to subsidize management compensation, or for any other purpose that benefits the employer rather than the employee who earned the gratuity.
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)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Kentucky, when employees enter into an agreement to divide tips among themselves, the amounts retained by each individual are considered that person's tips. If an employer requires the use of a tip pool, the account used to hold those pooled tips must be kept separate from the employer's other business records, and the employer must make that account open to inspection by the pool's participants. This segregation and transparency requirement ensures that employees can verify how tips are being distributed and that the employer is not using the tip pool account for other business purposes or improperly diverting funds.
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 performs both tipped and non-tipped work for the same employer is considered a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server or in other tip-producing occupations. This means the employer can only apply the reduced cash wage of $2.13 per hour to the hours the employee spends in the tipped occupation. For hours worked in non-tipped duties, the employer must pay at least the full minimum wage. The dual-job rule prevents employers from paying the lower tipped wage for work that does not generate tips, ensuring employees receive proper compensation for all the work they perform.
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)
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 for each week where credit is taken, when adding the tips received to wages paid,
Other years
Every Kentucky Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state