2015 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2015 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2015-01-01Source: Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)Verified 2026-08-31
Who it applies to
North Carolina employers that have tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
For 2015, North Carolina employers with tipped employees were required to pay a minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour, provided the employee's tips were sufficient to bring total hourly earnings to at least the full minimum wage. If a tipped employee's tips fell short, the employer was responsible for making up the difference so the employee received at least the minimum wage.
Common questions
- What must an employer do if a tipped employee's tips do not bring their pay up to the full minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so that the tipped employee receives at least the full minimum wage.
- Does the employer need to notify tipped employees about the tip credit?
- Yes. The law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance and be permitted to retain all tips.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In North Carolina, employers who have tipped employees may take a tip credit, meaning they can count a portion of the tips you earn toward their obligation to pay you the minimum wage. The law sets a floor: your employer must pay you a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour. On top of that cash wage, your tips are supposed to bring your total hourly earnings up to at least $7.25, which is the full minimum wage in North Carolina. If your cash wage plus your tips do not reach $7.25 in a given hour, the tip credit is limited and your employer cannot rely on it for that shortfall. The tip credit mechanism exists so that employers in tipped industries can pay a lower base wage while still ensuring workers receive at least the minimum wage when tips are included. In North Carolina, this means the lowest cash wage your employer can pay you as a tipped worker is $2.13 an hour, with the rest made up through the tips you actually keep.
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough in tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the minimum wage ($7.25).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In North Carolina, if your tips plus the cash wage your employer pays you do not reach the full minimum wage, your employer must make up the difference. The employer cannot simply pay you the lower cash wage and leave it at that. It is the employer's responsibility to track your total earnings each pay period and ensure you receive at least the minimum wage when combining your cash wages and tips. If your tips fall short in any given pay period, your employer must increase your cash wage payment to cover the gap. This rule protects tipped workers from earning below the minimum wage due to slow business or other factors beyond their control. The cash wage of $2.13 per hour is only a floor, not a guarantee—that guarantee comes from the employer's obligation to make sure your total compensation reaches at least the minimum wage. If your employer does not make up the shortfall, it is violating North Carolina wage law.
Employers MUST pay more than the $2.13 hourly cash wage if the tipped employee earns less than the credit in tips per hour, as it is the employer’s responsibility to make sure that all tipped employees earn at least the minimum wage in cash wages and tips.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In North Carolina, before your employer can take a tip credit against the minimum wage, it must notify you in advance. This is not optional—the law requires that you be told ahead of time that your employer plans to count your tips as part of your wages. In addition to this notification, the employer must allow you to keep all of your tips and must maintain accurate, complete records of the tips you receive. You must certify those tips, either monthly or each pay period. If the employer fails to give you this advance notice or does not meet the other requirements, it cannot take the tip credit and must pay you the full minimum wage in direct wages. This notice requirement ensures that tipped employees in North Carolina understand how their wages are being calculated and can verify that the employer is following the law. Without proper notification, the entire tip credit arrangement is invalid.
However, for an employer to be able to count tips as wages and take a tip credit towards the minimum wage, the law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance and be permitted to retain all tips, and requires that the employer maintains accurate and complete records of tips received by each employee and such tips must be certified by tipped employees monthly or for each pay period.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In North Carolina, when both state and federal minimum wage laws apply to an employer, the employer must follow whichever standard provides the greater protection to employees. For most workers in North Carolina, the state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies. However, agricultural and domestic employees are subject to the federal minimum wage instead. The principle is straightforward: when two laws set different wage floors, the employer must pay at least the higher amount. In North Carolina, this means that even though federal law may set its own rules for certain categories of workers, employees in the state are protected by whichever rule—state or federal—gives them the better wage. Employers doing business in North Carolina cannot simply pick the lower standard; they must comply with the standard most protective to employees. This ensures that workers receive the maximum wage protection available under the overlapping laws.
Employers doing business in North Carolina are required to pay at least $7.25 per hour to all employees (agricultural and domestic employees are subject to the federal minimum wage).
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In North Carolina, the law requires that tipped employees be permitted to retain all of their tips. This means your employer, your manager, and your supervisor may not keep any portion of the tips you receive from customers. The tips belong to you, not to the business. Even when the employer takes a tip credit against the minimum wage, the actual tip dollars must go to you. The employer must also maintain accurate and complete records of the tips each employee receives, and you must certify those tips monthly or per pay period. If an employer violates this rule by taking a share of your tips, it loses the right to use the tip credit and may face penalties under North Carolina wage law. This protection ensures that the tip credit system does not become a way for employers to subsidize their payroll costs using money that rightfully belongs to workers. In North Carolina, your tips are your earnings, and no one above you in the workplace is allowed to take them.
However, for an employer to be able to count tips as wages and take a tip credit towards the minimum wage, the law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance and be permitted to retain all tips, and requires that the employer maintains accurate and complete records of tips received by each employee and such tips must be certified by tipped employees monthly or for each pay period.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In North Carolina, tip pooling is allowed, but only under specific conditions. For businesses covered by NCDOL for minimum wage—generally those making less than $500,000 in gross annual sales—tip pooling is permitted as long as the tipped employees retain at least 85 percent of the tips they receive. This means that while some redistribution among tipped workers is allowed, the employer cannot use the tip pool to take a large cut for itself or for non-tipped staff. The employer must maintain accurate and complete records of all tips received and the amounts earned under the pooling arrangement. For tipped workers in North Carolina, this rule ensures that tip pooling benefits the workers who actually serve customers, not the business. At least 85 percent of the total tips must flow back to the tipped employees. The employer's obligation to keep detailed records means you should be able to see how the pool is calculated and verify that the 85 percent floor is being met each pay period.
In businesses that are covered by NCDOL for minimum wage (generally businesses that make less than $500,000 in gross sales), tip pooling is permitted as long as the tipped employees retain at least 85 percent of the tips they receive, which means the employer must maintain accurate and complete records of the tips received and the amount of tips earned under the tip pooling arrangement.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In North Carolina, if you work two different jobs for the same employer—one where you regularly receive tips and one where you do not—your employer can only treat you as a tipped employee during the hours you actually spend in the tipped role. During the time you perform non-tipped work, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage in direct cash wages and cannot take a tip credit. The cash wage of $2.13 per hour applies only to the hours you spend in the occupation where you customarily and regularly receive tips. This means your employer must track your time carefully and apply different wage rates to different parts of your shift. For example, if you work as both a server and a host for the same restaurant, your employer can pay you the tipped cash wage while you are serving but must pay the full minimum wage while you are hosting. This rule prevents employers from applying the lower tipped wage to all of your hours just because you occasionally receive tips in one part of your job. In North Carolina, the tip credit only applies to time actually spent in the tipped occupation.
For employers who have “tipped employees,” employers are permitted to take a credit for a certain amount of tips earned by their employees toward the employers’ payment of the minimum wage.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina 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.
Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
In North Carolina, an employer MUST pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees
Other years
Every North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state