2017 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2017 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)Verified 2026-08-31
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
Employers in North Carolina who have tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
North Carolina's minimum cash wage for tipped employees remained $2.13 per hour in 2017, unchanged from 2016.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in North Carolina for 2017?
- Employers in North Carolina must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour in cash wages, provided the employee's tips bring total earnings to at least the full minimum wage. If tips are insufficient, the employer must make up the difference.
- Are employers required to notify tipped employees about the tip credit?
- Yes. Employers must inform tipped employees in advance that a tip credit will be taken, allow employees to retain all tips, and keep accurate records of tips received.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In North Carolina, a tipped employee is someone whose job involves receiving tips as a regular part of their pay. When an employer wants to count those tips toward the minimum wage obligation, it must follow specific rules: the employee must be told ahead of time, must be allowed to keep all of their tips, and the employer must keep accurate records of the tips each employee receives. Those records must be certified by the tipped employee either monthly or each pay period. In North Carolina, the employer must pay at least $2.13 per hour in direct wages to a tipped employee, as long as the tips the employee receives are enough to bring their total hourly earnings up to at least $7.25. If the tips fall short, the employer is required to make up the difference so that the employee still earns at least $7.25 per hour in combined cash wages and tips. These rules apply to employers doing business in North Carolina, including state and local government employers, and agricultural and domestic employees are subject to the federal minimum wage instead.
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)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
North Carolina law requires that employers pay tipped employees a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, but only if the employee's tips are sufficient to bring total compensation to the full state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. This means the employer can count a portion of the worker's tips toward the minimum wage obligation, but the employee must actually receive enough in gratuities to reach that $7.25 threshold. The tip credit is the difference between what the employer pays directly and what the full minimum wage would be. If the employee's tips fall short, the employer cannot rely on the credit and must instead pay the full minimum wage from their own funds. This structure ensures that tipped workers in North Carolina never earn less than the state minimum when their cash wages and tips are combined, even though their direct paycheck may be significantly lower than the $7.25 standard.
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 a tipped employee does not earn enough in tips to reach the state minimum wage when combined with their direct cash wage, the employer is legally required to make up the difference. This means the employer cannot simply pay the lower cash wage and assume the tips will cover the gap — they must actively ensure that the employee's total earnings meet or exceed the minimum wage threshold. The employer bears the responsibility for monitoring whether the tips are sufficient and must increase the direct wage payment whenever the tips fall short. This protection ensures that tipped workers in North Carolina never earn less than the minimum wage in total compensation, regardless of how generous or sparse customer gratuities may be in any given pay period. The employer cannot shift this risk onto the employee or claim that low tips excuse them from meeting the wage floor.
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
Before a North Carolina employer can count tips toward the minimum wage obligation, the employer must notify the tipped employee in advance of this arrangement. The law requires that the employee be informed before the employer takes the tip credit—not after the fact and not buried in a paycheck stub. This advance notice ensures that tipped workers in North Carolina understand how their wages will be calculated and know that they are entitled to retain all of their tips. In addition to providing notice, the employer must maintain accurate and complete records of the tips received by each employee, and those tip records must be certified by the tipped employee either monthly or for each pay period. If an employer in North Carolina fails to provide this advance notice, it loses the right to take the tip credit and must pay the full minimum wage directly, without relying on the employee's tips to satisfy any portion of the wage obligation.
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)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
Under North Carolina law, tipped employees must be permitted to retain all of their tips. An employer cannot keep any portion of an employee's tips for any reason—whether as a service fee, an administrative charge, or any other deduction. This protection applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit toward the minimum wage obligation. The tips belong to the employee who received them, and the employer's role is limited to ensuring proper recordkeeping and compliance with wage laws. If an employer in North Carolina violates this rule by retaining any part of a worker's tips, it undermines the entire tip credit framework and may lose the right to claim that credit altogether. This means the employer could be required to pay the full minimum wage retroactively, in addition to any other penalties for wage theft. The law makes clear that tips are the property of the employee, not the business.
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 arrangements are permitted, but only under specific conditions. For businesses covered by the North Carolina Department of Labor for minimum wage purposes—generally those with less than $500,000 in gross sales—tip pooling is allowed as long as the tipped employees retain at least 85 percent of the tips they receive. This means that while employers can require workers to share tips with other employees, the vast majority of the tip pool must go back to the tipped workers themselves. The employer must maintain accurate and complete records of all tips received and the amounts distributed through the pooling arrangement. These records help ensure that the 85 percent threshold is met and that no employer or manager is siphoning off a portion of the pooled tips. Workers in North Carolina who participate in tip pools should receive clear documentation of how tips are collected and redistributed among the pool members.
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)
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