2019 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2019 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.83.
Effective 2019-01-01Source: Minimum Wage Law Summary (LLC-1) (Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2018
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2018.
| Item | 2018 | 2019 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.83 | $2.83 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Pennsylvania employers who pay tipped employees
What changed this year, and why
Pennsylvania's minimum cash wage for tipped employees
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage an employer must pay a tipped employee in Pennsylvania?
- The minimum cash wage is $2.83 per hour for a tipped employee.
- What if tips plus the cash wage do not reach the regular minimum wage?
- The employer must make up the difference so that the employee's total earnings reach at least the regular Pennsylvania minimum wage.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In Pennsylvania, a worker counts as a tipped employee under federal law only if they work in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. If a worker’s tips fall below that threshold in a given month, or if they work in a role where tips are not the norm, the employer cannot treat them as a tipped employee and must pay them the full minimum wage without taking a tip credit. This definition applies regardless of whether the employer actually takes a tip credit or pays the full minimum wage directly. Only tips the employee actually receives count toward this threshold, and tips shared through a tip pool are counted for the employee who ultimately receives them. Pennsylvania workers should look at their actual job duties and tip patterns to determine whether they meet this definition.
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, when an employer takes a tip credit, it pays a cash wage that is lower than the full minimum wage and counts the employee’s tips toward making up the rest. Under federal law, the employer can take a tip credit equal to the difference between the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee and the full minimum wage. Pennsylvania employers must pay tipped workers at least the state’s minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour. If an employer pays that cash wage, the tip credit covers the gap between $2.83 and the full minimum wage. The employer must be able to show each workweek that the employee’s cash wage plus tips together reach at least the full minimum wage. If the combined total falls short, the employer has to add enough to bring the worker up to the minimum.
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, every workweek your employer must be able to show that the cash wage it pays you plus the tips you actually received add up to at least the full minimum wage. If your tips combined with the employer’s direct cash wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage in a given workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This is not an annual average and it is not a monthly calculation; it has to work out in each individual workweek. If a slow week leaves you short, your employer owes you the gap at the next regular payday for that workweek. Pennsylvania’s minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour means the gap your employer must cover can be larger than it would be under the lower federal cash wage, so this backstop matters for workers here.
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 an employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must inform you of specific facts about how the credit works. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit: the amount of the cash wage the employer is paying (at least the required minimum), the additional amount claimed as a tip credit, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received, that you keep all your tips except for a valid tip pool, and that the credit will not apply unless you have been told all of this. The notice can be oral or written. If your Pennsylvania employer fails to give you this information, it loses the right to take the tip credit at all and owes you the full minimum wage in cash, regardless of how much you earned in tips.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the amount of the direct (or cash) wage the employer is paying a tipped employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount claimed by the employer as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12 (the difference between the minimum required direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 and the current minimum wage of $7.25); that the tip credit claimed by the employer cannot exceed the amount of tips actually received by the tipped employee; that all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of these tip credit provisions.
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 state law and the federal FLSA set different rules for tipped workers, the employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. This means you are entitled to whichever rule gives you more pay or stronger protections. Pennsylvania sets a higher minimum cash wage than the federal floor, so a Pennsylvania employer must pay at least $2.83 per hour in cash, not the lower federal amount. If Pennsylvania law also required a larger tip credit, prohibited tip pooling that the federal rule would allow, or gave any other benefit beyond the federal baseline, the employer would have to follow the state version. In practice, Pennsylvania tipped workers look at both the federal FLSA and state law and take the piece of each that is better for them.
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)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In Pennsylvania, the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule applies regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit or pays the full minimum wage. Even if a tipped employee in Pennsylvania receives at least the federal minimum wage per hour in wages directly from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit, the employer still may not require the employee to give their tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. Your employer, your manager, and your supervisor may not keep your tips under any circumstances.
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. An employer may not require an employee to give their tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager, even where a tipped employee receives at least the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25) per hour in wages directly from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit.
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 takes a tip credit and pays you the minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour, any mandatory tip pool your employer requires you to join is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. This is known as a "traditional" tip pool. That means your pooled tips can only be shared with workers like waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. Non-tipped workers such as cooks, dishwashers, or janitors may not participate in this type of pool. Your employer must also notify you of any required tip pool contribution amount, and may only take a tip credit for the tips you ultimately receive after the pool is distributed. Managers and supervisors are also excluded from receiving tips from the pool.
Traditional Tip Pooling: 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
In Pennsylvania, if you work two different jobs for the same employer — for example, as a maintenance worker and also as a server — and you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for your server work, you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment as a server. Your employer may take a tip credit and pay you the minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour only for the hours you work as a server. For all hours you work in the other occupation, such as maintenance, no tip credit may be taken and your employer must pay you at least the full minimum wage. This dual-job rule prevents employers from applying the lower tipped wage rate to hours spent doing non-tipped work, even when both jobs are performed for the same employer.
Dual Jobs: In some situations an employee is employed in a dual job, as for example, where a maintenance person in a hotel also serves as a server. 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 per hour to an employee who makes $30.00 per month in tips.
Other years
Every Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state