2022 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2022 Pennsylvania Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.83.
Effective 2022-01-01Source: Minimum Wage Law Summary (LLC-1) (Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2021
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2021.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.83 | $2.83 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Pennsylvania who receive the required monthly amount in tips.
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Pennsylvania for 2022.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Pennsylvania in 2022?
- The minimum cash wage is $2.83 per hour.
- When does the employer need to make up the difference?
- The employer must make up the difference if the employee's tips plus the cash wage do not equal the regular Pennsylvania minimum wage.
- What is the tip threshold for the tipped minimum wage to apply?
- The employee must receive a certain monthly amount in tips for the tipped minimum wage to apply.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under federal law, a tipped employee is anyone who works in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. In Pennsylvania, this definition determines whether an employer may pay the lower tipped minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour instead of the full minimum wage. The 30-dollar threshold is measured monthly; if a worker's tips fall below that amount on a regular basis, the person is not considered a tipped employee under the FLSA and the employer must pay the full minimum wage. Only tips actually received by the employee count toward meeting this threshold. Pennsylvania workers who meet this definition are subject to the federal tip-credit rules described elsewhere on this page unless Pennsylvania law provides a more protective standard.
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 the FLSA, a tip credit lets an employer count a portion of an employee's tips toward meeting the minimum wage obligation, so long as the employee's cash wage plus tips together reach at least the full minimum wage. Federal law sets the cash wage floor at $2.13 per hour and caps the tip credit at $5.12 (the gap between $2.13 and $7.25). Pennsylvania, however, requires a higher minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour. Because the state law sets a higher cash wage, employers in Pennsylvania must pay at least $2.83 per hour in direct wages before they can claim any tip credit. The tip credit itself is the difference between that cash wage and the applicable minimum wage. If the employee's tips combined with the $2.83 cash wage still do not add up to the full minimum wage in a given workweek, the employer must make up the shortfall. Only tips actually received by the employee count toward the credit.
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. The maximum tip credit that an employer can currently claim is $5.12 per hour: ($7.25 - $2.13 direct (or cash) wage = $5.12).
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Under the FLSA, an employer that takes a tip credit must be able to show that the employee receives at least the full federal minimum wage in every single workweek when direct (or cash) wages and tips are combined. In Pennsylvania, the employer must pay at least $2.83 per hour in cash wages. If that cash wage plus the tips the employee actually received during the workweek do not add up to the full minimum hourly wage of $7.25, the employer must make up the difference out of its own funds. The employer cannot average a busy week against a slow week; the calculation must be performed separately for each workweek. This protection ensures that a tipped employee in Pennsylvania never walks away with less than the minimum wage for any given workweek, regardless of fluctuations in customer traffic or tip volume.
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
Before an employer in Pennsylvania can take a tip credit against a tipped employee's wages, the employer must first inform the employee of five specific pieces of information: the cash wage the employer is paying (which must be at least the applicable minimum), the amount of tip credit the employer plans to claim, a statement that the credit cannot exceed the tips the employee actually receives, a statement that all tips belong to the employee except for valid tip-pooling contributions, and a statement that the tip credit will not apply unless the employee has received all of this information. The employer may deliver this notice orally or in writing. If the employer fails to provide any of this information before taking the credit, it loses the right to use the tip credit at all and must pay the full minimum wage without any offset for tips. This requirement gives Pennsylvania tipped workers clear advance notice of how their wages are being calculated and protects them from silent wage deductions.
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
When a state law and the federal FLSA set different rules for tipped employees, the employer in Pennsylvania must comply with whichever standard is most protective to employees. This means that if Pennsylvania's law requires a higher minimum cash wage, a larger tip credit disclosure, or prohibits the tip credit entirely, the employer must follow the Pennsylvania rule rather than the more lenient federal one. In Pennsylvania, the state requires employers to pay tipped workers a minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour, which is higher than the federal floor of $2.13. Because $2.83 is more protective to employees than $2.13, employers in Pennsylvania must pay at least $2.83 per hour in direct wages. Similarly, if a Pennsylvania rule would give an employee stronger protections on tip-pooling, notice, or recordkeeping, the employer must apply that state-level protection. The federal rules serve as a floor, not a ceiling; Pennsylvania workers always receive the benefit of the more generous provision.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees. For example, some states require a higher cash wage than the federal direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 per hour or in some cases prohibit the taking of a tip credit.
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 in Pennsylvania 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 hand over their tips to the employer, a supervisor, or a manager. This protection applies even in situations where a tipped employee receives at least $7.25 per hour in wages directly from the employer and the employer takes no tip credit at all. For a tipped worker in Pennsylvania, this means that every tip left by a customer belongs to the employee - the restaurant owner, the shift supervisor, and the general manager have no legal right to skim, deduct, or redirect any of those earnings. The rule covers both outright confiscation and indirect arrangements such as requiring employees to contribute a share of tips to a pool from which managers or owners benefit. Managers and supervisors are specifically barred from participating in tip pools, ensuring that the people who direct the workforce do not financially benefit from the gratuities meant for frontline service workers.
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
Under the FLSA, the rules governing tip pools depend on whether the employer takes a tip credit. When an employer in Pennsylvania takes a tip credit - paying the tipped minimum cash wage of $2.83 per hour rather than the full minimum wage - it may require tipped employees to contribute to a tip pool only if that pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. This is known as a "traditional" tip pool. Eligible participants include workers such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. The employer may not include non-tipped employees such as dishwashers or cooks in this type of pool. The employer must notify tipped employees of any required contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for tips each employee ultimately retains after the pool distribution, and may not keep any of the pooled tips for itself. Managers and supervisors are also barred from receiving money from the pool. A tipped worker in Pennsylvania should understand that if their employer pays the lower cash wage, their tip pool contributions can only go to other frontline service workers who themselves rely on tips as a regular part of their income.
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
Under the FLSA, when an employee in Pennsylvania works two distinct jobs for the same employer - for example, performing maintenance work during part of the day and serving tables during another part - the employee is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server, assuming they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for that serving work. The employer cannot apply the tip credit or pay the lower cash wage of $2.83 per hour for the hours the employee spends in the non-tipped occupation. For the maintenance-person hours, the employer must pay the full minimum wage without any tip credit offset. The two roles are treated as separate employments even though the same person performs both. A tipped worker in Pennsylvania who splits time between a tipped role and a non-tipped role should receive the full minimum wage for every hour worked in the non-tipped occupation, while the tip credit and lower cash wage apply only to the hours spent in the tipped occupation where tips are customarily and regularly received.
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