Since 1966, Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (currently $2.13) and the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25).  Employers using the tip credit must be able to show that tipped employees receive at least the minimum wage when direct wages and the tip credit amount are combined.  If the employee’s tips combined with the direct wages do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

Congress amended the FLSA in 1974 to require that employers notify tipped employees of the use of the tip credit in advance, and to permit mandatory tip pooling among employees who “customarily and regularly receive tips.”  The U.S. Department of Labor’s longstanding position following the 1974 amendments was that the limitation on mandatory tip pool participants to employees who “customarily and regularly receive tips” applied whether or not the employer pays a tip credit—in other words, that even employers that pay the full minimum wage cannot require employees to share tips with employees (such as cooks, dishwashers, and other “back of the house” employees) who do not “customarily and regularly receive tips.”

In 2011, the Obama Administration amended the FLSA tip credit regulations (specifically, 29 C.F.R. § 531.54) to codify the DOL’s interpretation of FLSA § 3(m) that “mandatory tip pools … can only include those employees who customarily and regularly receive tips.”

In July 2017, the Trump Administration announced its intention to rescind the 2011 regulatory amendments.

In the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by President Trump in March 2018, Congress amended § 3(m) to prohibit employers from keeping tips received by their employees, regardless whether the employer takes a tip credit.  The 2018 law also withdrew those portions of the FLSA regulations (§§ 531.52, 531.54, and 531.59) that barred tip pooling when employers pay tipped employees at least the full federal minimum wage and do not claim a tip credit, pending additional DOL rule making.

As a consequence of the 2018 amendments to § 3(m), employers that pay the full federal minimum wage are no longer prohibited from allowing employees who are not “customarily and regularly” tipped to participate in tip pools.  In other words, employers can pool all tips and divide them among all staff—regardless of whether they are customarily tipped employees—provided they are not managers or supervisors.

In the Fall 2018 Regulatory Agenda published earlier this week, the DOL announced that a Notice of Proposed Rule Making on the FLSA tip regulations is expected in October 2018.  As the DOL explained,

In the FY 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress amended multiple provisions of the [FLSA] with respect to an employer’s use of its employees tips and additionally provided that portions of the [DOL’s] 2011 rule regarding tips shall have no further force or effect until any future action taken by the [DOL].  In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the [DOL] will align its regulations with the recent statutory changes.

Employers in states that have more restrictive or different laws governing the tip credit, tip pooling, and tip sharing—such as New York—will be less concerned about federal developments in this area.  But nationwide hospitality employers are paying close attention.

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Photo of Allan Bloom Allan Bloom

Allan Bloom is the co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Law Department and a nationally recognized litigator and advisor who represents employers, business owners, and management in a broad range of employment and labor law matters. As a litigator, Allan has successfully defended…

Allan Bloom is the co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Law Department and a nationally recognized litigator and advisor who represents employers, business owners, and management in a broad range of employment and labor law matters. As a litigator, Allan has successfully defended many of the world’s leading companies against claims for unpaid wages, employment discrimination, breach of contract and wrongful discharge, both at the trial and appellate court levels as well as in arbitration, before government agencies, and in private negotiations. He has secured complete defense verdicts for clients in front of juries, as well as injunctions to protect clients’ confidential information and assets.

As the leader of Proskauer’s Wage and Hour Practice Group, Allan has been a strategic partner to a number of Fortune 500 companies to help them avoid, minimize and manage exposure to wage and hour-related risk. Allan’s views on wage and hour issues have been featured in The New York TimesReutersBloomberg and Fortune, among other leading publications. His class-action defense work for clients has saved billions of dollars in potential damages.

Allan is regularly called on to advise operating companies, management companies, fund sponsors, boards of directors and senior leadership on highly sensitive matters including executive and key person transitions, internal investigations and strategic workforce planning. He has particular expertise in the financial services industry, where he has litigated, arbitrated, and mediated disputes for more than 20 years.

A prolific author and speaker, Allan was the Editor of the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Journal from 2012 to 2017. He has served as an author, editor and contributor to a number of leading treatises in the field of employment law, including ADR in Employment Law (ABA/Bloomberg BNA), Employment Discrimination Law (ABA/Bloomberg BNA), Cutting Edge Advances in Resolving Workplace Disputes (Cornell University/CPR), The Employment Law Review (Law Business Research, U.S. Chapter Author), and The Complete Compliance and Ethics Manual (SCCE).

Allan has served as longtime pro bono counsel to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and The Public Theater, among other nonprofit organizations.  He is a past Vice Chair of Repair the World, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes volunteers and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, and a past recipient of the Lawyers Alliance Cornerstone Award for extraordinary contributions through pro bono legal services.

Allan is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been recognized as a leading practitioner by Chambers since 2011.