2019 North Dakota Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2019 North Dakota Tipped Minimum Wage is $4.86.
Effective 2019-01-01Source: North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2018
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2018.
| Item | 2018 | 2019 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $4.86 | $4.86 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in North Dakota
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in North Dakota remains $4.86 per hour for 2019.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in North Dakota for 2019?
- The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in North Dakota in 2019 is $4.86 per hour.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In North Dakota, you count as a tipped employee if you work in an occupation where you regularly receive tips exceeding a small monthly threshold. On top of that, you must be a service employee who provides personal face-to-face service to individual customers in a way those customers would recognize as being done for their benefit. The role has to involve direct service — tasks such as cooking or dishwashing do not qualify, even if tips occasionally come your way. This definition matters because only employees who meet it can be paid the reduced cash wage of 4.86 per hour, with the employer counting your tips toward the rest of the minimum wage. If you do not meet the definition, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage in cash before any tip credit is applied.
A tipped employee is any service employee in an occupation in which he or she receives more than thirty dollars per month in tips.
North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Summary Poster (North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In North Dakota, an employer may count a portion of your tips toward its minimum-wage obligation. The state allows a tip credit of 33 percent of the minimum wage, which sets the minimum direct cash wage the employer must hand you at 4.86 per hour. The credit works because your tips are expected to bring your total earnings up to at least the full minimum wage for every hour worked. The employer is required to keep written records proving that your cash wage plus your tips together reach the full minimum wage. If your tips in a given pay period do not bring you up to that level, the employer must pay the shortfall out of pocket. In practice, the tip credit is not a reduction in what you earn — it is a mechanism that lets your employer count your tips toward its wage obligation, while the 4.86 cash wage remains the floor the employer must always meet on the paycheck.
Employers may utilize a tip credit of 33% of the minimum wage for tipped employees. With the tip credit applied, the minimum direct wage payable to a tipped employee is $4.86 per hour
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, when a tipped employee's cash wage plus tips do not add up to at least the full minimum wage for all hours worked, the employer must cover the gap. The employer is required to keep written records confirming that tipped employees receive at least the full minimum wage when the direct wage and tips are combined. If the tips fall short in a given pay period, the employer cannot shift that loss to the worker — it must pay the difference out of its own funds so that the employee takes home no less than the full minimum wage for every hour worked.
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
In North Dakota, an employer who wants to count a portion of your tips toward the minimum wage must tell you about that plan before it starts using the tip credit. The rule does not spell out a particular form the notice must take, but the timing is firm: the information must reach you in advance, not after the reduced cash wage has already been paid. If the employer fails to give you that notice, it loses the right to take the credit and must pay you the full minimum wage in cash for every hour you work. Keeping you informed up front is what makes the lower direct wage lawful.
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
In North Dakota, all tips belong to the employee who receives them. Your employer, managers, and supervisors are prohibited from keeping any portion of your tips under any circumstances. This rule applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit or pays you the full minimum wage in cash. Even if tips are collected through a valid tip pool among tipped employees, the employer itself cannot participate in or retain any share of those tips. The prohibition is absolute — tips are the property of the employee, and the employer has no legal right to intercept, withhold, or redistribute them to itself or to non-tipped staff. This protection ensures that the tips you earn from customers remain yours, subject only to lawful tip-pooling arrangements among eligible tipped workers.
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