2021 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2021 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.83.
Effective 2021-01-01Source: Minimum Wage Law Summary (LLC-1) (Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2020
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2020.
| Item | 2020 | 2021 | 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
The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Pennsylvania is $2.83 per hour.
Common questions
- What happens if the cash wage and tips together do not reach the regular minimum wage?
- Employers must ensure that the employee's tips combined with the cash wage of $2.83 per hour equal at least the regular Pennsylvania minimum wage. If they do not, the employer must make up the difference.
- What is the tip threshold for an employer to pay the tipped cash wage?
- The employee must meet a monthly tip threshold for the employer to qualify for the tipped cash wage; see the source document for the specific amount.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a tipped employee is anyone engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. In Pennsylvania, this federal definition determines whether your employer may pay you the tipped minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour and apply a tip credit against the regular minimum wage. If you work in an occupation where tips are not customary, or you receive $30 a month or less in tips, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage and cannot use the tip credit. Only tips you actually receive count toward meeting the $30 threshold and toward the tip credit itself—tips the employer never hands to you do not qualify.
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
Under federal law, an employer may take a tip credit equal to the difference between the cash wage it pays directly to a tipped employee and the full minimum wage. In Pennsylvania, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.83 per hour. The tip credit allows the employer to count a portion of the tips you receive toward its minimum wage obligation, but only up to the difference between the cash wage it pays and the full minimum wage. Only tips you actually receive count toward applying the tip credit. If your employer does not pay you at least the $2.83 cash wage, it cannot claim the tip credit at all. The tip credit is not an extra payment on top of your wages—it is a mechanism that lets the employer treat some of your tips as if they were wages for the purpose of meeting the minimum wage requirement.
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 each workweek, your employer must be able to show that you received at least the full minimum wage when your direct cash wages and the tip credit are combined. In Pennsylvania, the minimum cash wage is $2.83 per hour. If your tips plus that cash wage do not bring your total hourly earnings up to the full minimum wage in a given workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This is not a yearly or monthly average—it is calculated separately for every single workweek. The obligation falls on the employer, not on you to prove a shortfall. If your employer fails to pay the difference, it has violated the wage requirement and you are owed the unpaid amount for each affected workweek.
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
Under Pennsylvania law, an employer must give a tipped employee written notice before taking a tip credit against the minimum wage. The notice must state the cash wage the employer will pay (at least $2.83 per hour), the amount of the tip credit the employer claims, that the tip credit cannot exceed the tips actually received, that all tips received are the employee's property (except for valid tip pooling), and that the employer will make up the difference if the employee's tips plus the cash wage do not reach the minimum wage. The employer cannot take the tip credit unless it has given this notice first.
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
When federal and state law set different rules for tipped employees, the employer must follow whichever standard is most protective of the worker. In Pennsylvania, the state's minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.83 per hour. If Pennsylvania law provides a higher cash wage than the federal floor, or places stricter limits on the tip credit, or offers broader protections for tip pooling, the employer must comply with the state requirement. You as a tipped worker in Pennsylvania are entitled to whichever set of rules—federal or state—gives you the better outcome on any given issue. This means you should check both the federal standards and the Pennsylvania standards, because the more favorable one is the one that applies.
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
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, federal law prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. This rule applies in Pennsylvania just as it does everywhere else. Your employer, your manager, and your supervisor may not require you to hand over your tips, even if the employer pays you the full minimum wage in cash and takes no tip credit at all. Tips belong to the employee who received them. An employer who violates this rule is subject to enforcement action, and you may be entitled to recover the tips that were improperly taken.
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.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
When an employer takes a tip credit, it may require tipped employees to contribute to a tip pool, but that pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. In Pennsylvania, this means a valid traditional tip pool can include waiters, bussers, service bartenders, bellhops, and similar tipped workers—but not cooks, dishwashers, janitors, or other back-of-house employees who do not customarily receive tips. The employer may only take a tip credit based on the tips each tipped employee actually retains after the pool distribution, and it must notify you of the required contribution amount. If the pool includes non-tipped workers, the employer loses the right to take the tip credit entirely.
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—one tipped and one not—your employer can only treat you as a tipped employee for the hours you spend in the tipped occupation. For example, if you work as a hotel maintenance worker and also serve as a server, and you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips from your server work, you are a tipped employee only with respect to your employment as a server. Your employer cannot take a tip credit for the hours you spend doing maintenance. It must pay you the full minimum wage for those non-tipped hours. Related duties such as cleaning tables or making coffee that are part of your tipped occupation do not create a separate non-tipped job, however.
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.
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