Mon, 07/13/2020
As of July 1, 2020, the minimum wage in the District of Columbia increased to $15 per hour and the minimum wage for tipped employees—workers like servers and bartenders—increased to $5 per hour. This means that tipped employees who work overtime must be paid at least $12.50 per hour for all hours of overtime work.
Significantly, if a tipped employee’s weekly earnings do not equal the pay they would be owed if they were compensated at the full minimum wage rate for all hours (averaged on a weekly basis), the employer must make up the difference.
Further, if an employer does not comply with all of the tip credit requirements, for example, they pay employees the tipped wage for non-tipped work unrelated to their tipped employment or require employees to contribute to an unlawful tip pool including back-of-the-house staff, the employer is not permitted to pay their employees at the tipped wage hourly rate for any of their hours. Instead, employees must be compensated at the full minimum wage rate.
If you are a tipped employee in D.C. and believe your employer has failed to comply with the District’s minimum wage or overtime requirements, please contact MSE at info@mselaborlaw.com.
