2019 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2019 North Carolina Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.13.
Effective 2019-01-01Source: Minimum Wage in N.C. (North Carolina Department of Labor)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2018
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2018.
| Item | 2018 | 2019 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.13 | $2.13 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
North Carolina employers with tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage that North Carolina employers must pay tipped employees remained $2.13 per hour in 2019. Employers must ensure that each tipped employee's cash wage plus tips together reach at least the full minimum wage. If tips are not enough to bring the employee to the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in North Carolina?
- Employers must pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour in cash wages. The employee must also receive enough in tips so that the cash wage and tips together equal at least the full minimum wage. If tips fall short, the employer must pay the difference.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In North Carolina, the tip credit and lower cash wage apply only to employees who are classified as tipped employees. The state's minimum wage rules reference tipped employees in the context of employers who have workers receiving tips as part of their compensation. However, to qualify for the tip credit, the employer must meet specific requirements: you must be notified in advance, permitted to retain all your tips, and the employer must maintain accurate records of tips received by each employee, which you must certify monthly or each pay period. Without meeting these conditions, the employer cannot take a tip credit and must pay you the full minimum wage.
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)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
North Carolina law allows employers to take a tip credit toward the minimum wage for employees who receive tips as part of their work. The employer must pay a direct cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, and the tip credit makes up the difference between that cash wage and the full minimum wage. However, to use this credit, the employer must notify you in advance, allow you to keep all your tips, and maintain accurate records that you certify each month or pay period. If these conditions are not met, the employer cannot count your tips as wages and must pay the full minimum wage directly.
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
North Carolina requires that your total compensation from cash wages plus tips reach at least the full minimum wage for every hour you work. If in any workweek your cash wage of $2.13 an hour plus your tips does not add up to the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference out of its own funds. The employer cannot simply absorb a slow week by paying you less; the obligation to reach the minimum wage is continuous and rests on the business, not the worker. This is why tipped employees in North Carolina are entitled to the minimum wage in practice even though their paycheck may show only the lower 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, employers who have tipped employees may take a tip credit toward the minimum wage. However, the law requires that tipped employees be notified in advance, permitted to retain all their tips, and that the employer maintains accurate records of tips received by each employee, certified monthly or each pay period. This notification and record-keeping requirement is a condition that must be met before any tip credit applies. Without proper notice and compliance with these requirements, the employer cannot count tips as wages and must pay the full minimum wage directly to the worker.
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, employers must comply with whichever standard is most protective to employees when both state and federal minimum wage rules apply. If federal law provides better protections for tipped workers than North Carolina law, the employer must follow the federal rule. If North Carolina law is more favorable, that standard applies instead. For 2019, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour under both state and federal rules, but the principle remains that you are always entitled to the stronger protection in any given situation.
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
North Carolina law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips, whether those tips come directly from customers or through a tip pool. This protection applies to business owners, managers, and supervisors. All tips belong to the employees who receive them, and employers cannot take a share for any reason. The employer's role is limited to maintaining accurate records and ensuring proper distribution when a tip pool is in place, but the tips themselves must stay with the workers who earned 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 permitted in businesses covered by NCDOL for minimum wage purposes, which generally includes businesses with less than $500,000 in gross sales. When a tip pool exists, tipped employees must retain at least 85 percent of the tips they receive. The employer must maintain accurate and complete records of all tips received and the amounts distributed through the tip pooling arrangement. This means that while some sharing among tipped workers is allowed, the majority of tips must remain with the employees who earned them.
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