2016 North Dakota Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2016 North Dakota Tipped Minimum Wage is $4.86.
Effective 2016-01-01Source: North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)Verified 2026-09-01
Who it applies to
North Dakota employers with tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
North Dakota's minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $4.86 per hour. Employers may take a tip credit, and must keep written records showing that tipped employees receive at least the full minimum wage when tips and the direct wage are combined.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
Under North Dakota law, employers may take a tip credit equal to 33% of the minimum wage when paying tipped employees. The minimum direct cash wage that must be paid to a tipped employee is $4.86 per hour. This means the employer pays the worker at least $4.86 an hour in cash wages, and the employee's tips count toward filling the gap between that amount and the full minimum wage. The employer must keep written records showing that each tipped employee receives at least the full minimum wage for every hour worked when the cash wage and the tips are added together. If tips are low in a given pay period and the combined total falls short of the minimum wage, the employer must cover the difference. Workers in North Dakota who do not meet the definition of a tipped employee must receive the full minimum wage directly from the employer with no tip credit applied.
Employers may utilize a tip credit of 33% of the minimum wage for tipped employees.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In North Dakota, if a tipped employee's cash wage and tips combined do not reach the full minimum wage for all hours worked in a pay period, the employer is required to make up the shortfall. The employer must maintain written records verifying that tipped employees receive at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked when the direct wage and tips are combined. This rule protects workers from earning less than the standard minimum wage simply because their tips were light in a slow week. The employer, not the employee, bears the risk of a tip shortfall.
The employer must maintain written records verifying that tipped employees receive at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked when the direct wage and tips are combined.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
North Dakota requires that an employer who elects to use the tip credit must inform the employee in advance. This notice lets the worker know that the employer is counting the employee's tips toward meeting the minimum wage obligation, and that the employer will only pay a direct cash wage of $4.86 per hour rather than the full minimum wage. Without this advance notice, the employer cannot legally take the tip credit and would owe the full minimum wage in cash.
An employer who elects to use the tip credit must inform the employee in advance.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
North Dakota law provides that gratuities offered to an employee by a customer belong to the employee and may not be retained by the employer. This means that tips are the employee's property, not the business's. An employer, manager, or supervisor cannot take any share of a worker's tips, regardless of whether the business calls them a service charge, a house tip, or anything else. The rule ensures that the money customers leave as a reward for service goes to the workers who earned it.
Gratuities offered to an employee by a customer belong to the employee and may not be retained by the employer.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
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.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
- Minimum cash wage
With the tip credit applied, the minimum direct wage payable to a tipped employee is $4.86 per hour
Other years
Every North Dakota Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state