2024 West Virginia Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2024 West Virginia Tipped Minimum Wage is $2.62.
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2023
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2023.
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $2.62 | $2.62 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers in West Virginia with tipped service employees who are covered by state minimum wage requirements
What changed this year, and why
The minimum cash wage for tipped employees in West Virginia is $2.62 per hour.
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in West Virginia?
- Employers may pay tipped employees a cash wage of $2.62 per hour, as long as that cash wage plus reported tips brings the employee's total pay to at least the full state minimum wage. Employers that do not meet the state six-employee threshold may instead be subject to federal rules.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Tips needed per hour takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In West Virginia, employers may take a 70% credit against the state minimum wage for tipped service employees. Instead of paying the full minimum wage directly, the employer pays a cash wage of $2.62 per hour and counts the employee's reported tips toward the remaining balance. The result must be that the employee's cash wage plus reported tips together equal at least $8.75 per hour. If a worker's tips are not enough to bridge the gap between $2.62 and $8.75 in any given week, the employer is responsible for making up the shortfall so the total reaches $8.75 for every hour worked. The $2.62 cash wage is not optional—it is the minimum amount the employer must hand to the employee in direct wages before any tip credit is taken. This system applies only to service employees who customarily receive tips in their occupation. If your employer fails to keep proper written tip records, the employer loses the right to the credit and must pay you the full $8.75 minimum wage. Workers in West Virginia should know that the tip credit exists only because the state allows it; it is not a reduction in the minimum wage itself, which remains $8.75 per hour.
West Virginia’s minimum wage standards allow employers a 70% credit against the minimum wage requirement for their service employees that receive tips. That means an employer may pay his or her tipped employees a cash wage of $2.62 per hour, as long as the employee’s hourly cash rate, plus reported tips, equal $8.75 per hour.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In West Virginia, your employer may pay you a cash wage of $2.62 per hour only as long as that cash wage plus your reported tips together equal at least $8.75 for every hour you work. If your tips in a given workweek are not enough to bring your total hourly earnings to $8.75, the employer must make up the difference. You are entitled to receive $8.75 per hour no matter how much you earn in tips. The employer cannot use slow periods, customer shortages, or seasonal dips as a reason to pay you less than the minimum. The cash wage of $2.62 is the floor the employer must pay directly; tips are counted on top of that, not as a substitute for it. If the employer fails to ensure your total reaches $8.75 in any pay period, the employer owes you the shortfall for each hour worked. This guarantee applies to all tipped employees covered by West Virginia's minimum wage standards, and it operates alongside the written tip-record requirement that allows the employer to claim the credit in the first place.
That means an employer may pay his or her tipped employees a cash wage of $2.62 per hour, as long as the employee’s hourly cash rate, plus reported tips, equal $8.75 per hour.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In West Virginia, before an employer can take a tip credit and pay the lower cash wage of $2.62 per hour, the employer must have written tip records completed by the employee. This documentation requirement means the employer cannot simply assume what you earned in tips—it must have your written records showing the actual tip amounts you received. If the employer does not maintain these written records, the employer loses the right to the tip credit entirely and must pay you the full state minimum wage for every hour worked. The written records serve as the basis for the employer's claim that your tips, combined with the cash wage, meet the required minimum. Without them, there is no valid foundation for the reduced cash wage. This requirement protects you from having tip amounts credited against your wages that you never actually received. You should keep your own records of tips as well, and make sure your employer has accurate written documentation before it applies the tip credit to your pay.
In order to take a credit against the minimum wage for tips, the employer must have written tip records completed by the employee. If such tip records were not provided, the employer would have to pay the employee the full minimum wage of $8.75 per hour.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
Under no circumstances may the employer receive a share of any tips in West Virginia. This rule applies to all tips received by employees, whether they are left directly by customers, added to credit card charges, or collected through a tip pool. The employer—including managers and supervisors—must pass all tips through to the employees. An employer cannot deduct a portion of tips for administrative costs, breakage, uniforms, or any other reason, and cannot require employees to hand over part of their tips to the business. This protection exists independently of the tip credit system. Even if an employer pays the full minimum wage and does not take a tip credit, the employer still has no right to any portion of the tips employees receive. Tips belong to the employees who earned them through their service. Violations of this rule can result in penalties and back-wage liability for the employer.
Under no circumstances may the employer receive a share of any tips.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In West Virginia, tip pooling is limited to employees who are themselves eligible to receive tips. Only those employees that are eligible to receive tips may be included in a tip pool, or tip sharing situation. This means that an employer cannot require tipped employees to share their tips with non-tipped workers such as cooks, dishwashers, janitors, or other back-of-house staff who do not customarily receive tips from customers. The pool must consist entirely of employees whose occupations regularly involve receiving tips. The employer also may not take any portion of the pooled tips. If an employer requires participation in a tip pool that includes ineligible employees, the pool violates state law. The rule ensures that tip sharing arrangements benefit only the workers who depend on tips as part of their compensation, not the business or employees in other roles.
Only those employees that are eligible to receive tips may be included in a tip pool, or tip sharing situation.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
Doing two jobs for one employer
West Virginia's tip credit applies only to "service employees that receive tips." If you work in both a tipped role and a non-tipped role for the same employer—for example, spending part of your shift serving customers and part doing maintenance or kitchen prep—the reduced cash wage of $2.62 per hour applies only to the hours you spend in the tipped service occupation. For the hours you spend in a non-tipped role, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage. The 70% tip credit cannot be applied to time spent on duties that are not part of your tipped occupation. In West Virginia, the distinction between tipped and non-tipped work is based on the duties you actually perform during each period of your shift, not on your job title. If your employer treats all your hours as tipped hours when some of those hours involved non-tipped work, the employer may be violating the minimum wage requirements. You are a tipped employee only with respect to the employment in which you actually receive tips.
West Virginia’s minimum wage standards allow employers a 70% credit against the minimum wage requirement for their service employees that receive tips.
Minimum Wage FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
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 FAQ (West Virginia Division of Labor)
- Minimum cash wage
That means an employer may pay his or her tipped employees a cash wage of $2.62 per hour
Other years
Every West Virginia Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state