2016 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2016 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.83.
Effective 2016-01-01Source: Minimum Wage Law Summary (LLC-1) (Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Who it applies to
Pennsylvania employers who pay tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
Pennsylvania's minimum cash wage for tipped employees was $2.83 per hour in 2016.
Common questions
- What was the tipped minimum wage in Pennsylvania in 2016?
- In 2016, Pennsylvania's minimum cash wage for tipped employees was $2.83 per hour. Employers must make up the difference if an employee's tips combined with this cash wage do not reach the regular minimum wage.
- What happens if a tipped employee's tips plus the cash wage fall below the regular minimum wage?
- The employer is required to make up the difference so that the employee earns at least the regular minimum wage.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under federal law, a tipped employee in Pennsylvania is someone whose job regularly brings in more than $30 a month in tips. If you work in an occupation where tipping is customary and you meet that monthly threshold, your employer is allowed to count a portion of your tips toward its minimum wage obligation. This definition matters because it determines whether the lower cash wage and the tip credit rules apply to you at all. If your occupation is not one where tips are customary and regular, or if you earn $30 a month or less in tips, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage without relying on a tip credit.
Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is an employee engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In Pennsylvania, the federal tip credit rule works this way: your employer must pay you a cash wage of at least $2.83 per hour, and then it can claim a tip credit equal to the difference between that cash wage and the full minimum wage. The tip credit bridges the gap between what your employer pays you directly and what the minimum wage requires. Your employer can only take this credit if your cash wage plus your tips together reach at least the full minimum wage for every hour you work in each workweek. If your tips are not enough to bring your total compensation up to the minimum wage in any given workweek, your employer is required to make up the shortfall out of its own pocket. The tip credit is not a blanket allowance to pay you less; it is a calculation that depends on what you actually earn in tips each week.
An employer can take an FLSA tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage, or the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee, and the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In Pennsylvania, if your cash wage and your tips together do not add up to at least the full minimum wage in a given workweek, your employer must make up the difference. This guarantee applies every workweek, not just on average over a pay period. Your employer cannot rely on a busy week to offset a slow week; each week stands on its own. The tip credit is conditional, not a fixed subtraction from your pay. If business is slow and your tips fall short, the employer bears the responsibility for bringing your total hourly earnings up to the minimum wage floor. This rule ensures that the risk of low-tip periods falls on the employer, not on you.
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In Pennsylvania, before your employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you notice containing specific information. The employer must tell you the exact cash wage it is paying you, the amount it is claiming as a tip credit, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually receive, that you are entitled to keep all of your tips except for amounts going into a valid tip pool, and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have received all of this information. The notice can be given orally or in writing, but it must come before the employer starts counting your tips toward the minimum wage. If the employer fails to give you this notice, it loses the right to take the tip credit altogether and must pay you the full minimum wage from its own funds.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA:
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Pennsylvania, when both federal and state law cover tipped employees, your employer must follow whichever rule gives you the greater protection. This means that if Pennsylvania law requires a higher cash wage than federal law, or places stricter limits on the tip credit, or prohibits the tip credit entirely, the employer must comply with the Pennsylvania rule instead. The federal rule sets a floor, not a ceiling. If state law is more favorable to you as a worker, it displaces the federal standard for your employment. You are entitled to the benefit of whichever regime, federal or state, results in higher pay or stronger safeguards for your tips.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Pennsylvania, if your employer pays you the tipped minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour and takes a tip credit, they can only require you to participate in a tip pool that includes employees who customarily and regularly receive tips. This means the pool must be limited to workers in tipped occupations such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. This type of arrangement is called a "traditional" tip pool. Your employer cannot force you to share your tips with employees who do not customarily receive tips, such as cooks or dishwashers, if they are paying you the lower tipped wage. The rule protects you from having your tips distributed to workers in non-tipped positions when your employer is already paying you below the standard minimum wage.
An employer that takes a tip credit can require tipped employees to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
When a Pennsylvania worker holds two different positions with the same employer, the rules about tipped wages only apply to the job where they actually receive tips. If someone works as both a maintenance worker and a server at the same hotel, they are considered a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. For the hours they spend doing maintenance work, the employer cannot take a tip credit and must pay them the full minimum wage. The worker is employed in two separate occupations, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours of employment in their occupation as a maintenance person. This means that even though the employer might pay the reduced cash wage of $2.83 for the server position, they must pay the full minimum wage for the maintenance position. The two jobs are treated separately under the law.
In such a situation the employee, if they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for their work as a server, is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server. The worker is employed in two occupations, and no tip credit can be taken for their hours of employment in their occupation as a maintenance person.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
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 Law Summary (LLC-1) (Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)
- Minimum cash wage
An employer may pay a minimum of $2.83
Other years
Every Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state