# Why do tipped food servers make $2.13/hr? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862 "2013-02-20T04:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/101 "2015-01-15T19:09:58Z")
Zombies don’t expect tips, they just want your _ **bbbrrrrrraaaaaiiiiiinnnnnsssss!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/102 "2015-01-15T19:18:37Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Not being investigated for minimum-wage violations. Tips don’t count as part of their wages. At least not as part of their minimum wage calculations. I mean, I assume they don’t, I’ve never worked in a restaurant so I don’t know how their paychecks look. Are the hourly wages and tips together on one line or are they on two separate lines so you can see what you made per hour and see what you made in tips? That is, if I made $25 in tips this week and $45 in tips last week, my hourly wage should still be displayed on the check as $3.00 X 40 hours, right? They’re not going to put it all together and average the tips into my wage to make my hourly rate higher. That’s the only way I can see making what you’re saying work. > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Zombies don’t expect tips, they just want your _ **bbbrrrrrraaaaaiiiiiinnnnnsssss!!!** _ Can we have one thread where someone doesn’t do that. It’s an old thread, get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/103 "2015-01-15T19:32:17Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Tips don’t count as part of their wages. At least not as part of their minimum wage calculations. > > I mean, I assume they don’t… You assume incorrectly. [The details vary between states, but as a general rule, _some_ tip income counts toward a mandatory minimum wage.](http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm) If the employee ends up with less than that in total tips for any reason, the employer has to make up the difference. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/104 "2015-01-15T20:26:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > . > > I mean, I assume they don’t, I’ve never worked in a restaurant so I don’t know how their paychecks look. Are the hourly wages and tips together on one line or are they on two separate lines so you can see what you made per hour and see what you made in tips? > > That is, if I made $25 in tips this week and $45 in tips last week, my hourly wage should still be displayed on the check as $3.00 X 40 hours, right? They’re not going to put it all together and average the tips into my wage to make my hourly rate higher. That’s the only way I can see making what you’re saying work. The tips don’t necessarily show up on the statement- but way back when I was in high school and college , I had one job where we allegedly received tips and another job processing deposited checks. It was very common for paychecks to have a statement on back saying something to the effect of " By signing below, I certify that I received sufficent tips to bring my pay above minimum wage for this pay period". Becasue even 30 years ago , employers were only permitted to pay the lower wage if the tips brought the pay above the minimum wage. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/105 "2015-01-15T22:21:14Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > You assume incorrectly. [The details vary between states, but as a general rule, _some_ tip income counts toward a mandatory minimum wage.](http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm) If the employee ends up with less than that in total tips for any reason, the employer has to make up the difference. > [@doreen](#): > > The tips don’t necessarily show up on the statement- but way back when I was in high school and college , I had one job where we allegedly received tips and another job processing deposited checks. It was very common for paychecks to have a statement on back saying something to the effect of " By signing below, I certify that I received sufficent tips to bring my pay above minimum wage for this pay period". Becasue even 30 years ago , employers were only permitted to pay the lower wage if the tips brought the pay above the minimum wage. I didn’t know that. So you’re saying a restaurant can pay it’s workers less than $2.13 per hour (or whatever minimum wage for tipped employees is in their state) as long as the difference is made up in tips? It seems most waitstaff should be able to pull in a little over $80 per week ($17 per night), that means the restaurant, technically, doesn’t have to pay them at all, right? I’ve never heard that, been then all my payroll knowledge is based in the non-tipped/non-opportunity world. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/106 "2015-01-15T22:29:57Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Tips don’t count as part of their wages. At least not as part of their minimum wage calculations. I know this is a zombie thread, but that was explained in the very first response on the first page. > [@](#): > > Can we have one thread where someone doesn’t do that. It’s an old thread, get over it. Where’s your sense of humor? It actually works as a good marker so people know it’s “one of those threads”. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/107 "2015-01-15T23:05:56Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I didn’t know that. So you’re saying a restaurant can pay it’s workers less than $2.13 per hour (or whatever minimum wage for tipped employees is in their state) as long as the difference is made up in tips? > > It seems most waitstaff should be able to pull in a little over $80 per week ($17 per night), that means the restaurant, technically, doesn’t have to pay them at all, right? > > I’ve never heard that, been then all my payroll knowledge is based in the non-tipped/non-opportunity world. Nope, it’s technically the same minimum wage for everyone. The feds and some states allow a “tip credit” so that the employer can pay a lower rate in direct wages as long as the tips bring the wages up to minimum wage. For example, minimum wage in NY is $8.75/hr. Employers must pay food service workers a direct wage of $5/hr and can take a tip credit of $3.75/hr.- but only if the employee actually receives at least $3.75/hr in tips for that pay period. Which is why those checks had that statement on the back - most people aren’t going to fiel a complaint with the Dept of Labor after signing that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862/108 "2015-01-16T01:40:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Where’s your sense of humor? It actually works as a good marker so people know it’s “one of those threads”. It’s one of those ‘that was funny the first hundred times’ things. > [@doreen](#): > > Nope, it’s technically the same minimum wage for everyone. The feds and some states allow a “tip credit” so that the employer can pay a lower rate in direct wages as long as the tips bring the wages up to minimum wage. For example, minimum wage in NY is $8.75/hr. Employers must pay food service workers a direct wage of $5/hr and can take a tip credit of $3.75/hr.- but only if the employee actually receives at least $3.75/hr in tips for that pay period. > Which is why those checks had that statement on the back - most people aren’t going to fiel a complaint with the Dept of Labor after signing that statement. I really didn’t know that. I do payroll for my store, but, like I said, my store doesn’t have tipped employees so I don’t read up on that side of things much. I’ll take everyone’s word for it though, I don’t really feel like slogging through the IRS website. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-tipped-food-servers-make-2-13-hr/650862.md?page=5)