Wage law changes to take effect Dec. 28

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final ruling on tipped workers and established when an employer can pay less than the federal minimum wage, according to a statement from the department. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must pay employees no less than the current minimum wage of $7.25/hour. However, the act allowed tipped employees who normally earn at least $30/month in customer tips to have a reduced minimum wage of $2.13/hour, instead of $7.25/hour. Under this rule, the employer must make sure the tipped employees earn at least $5.12/hour in tips to reach the federal minimum. The final rule states that tipped employees doing non-tipped support work should be paid the federal minimum wage if the non-tipped work exceeds 20% of their workweek. Additionally, if an employee spends more than 30 continuous minutes performing non-tipped support work, the employer must pay full minimum wage for any time that exceeds 30 minutes, regardless of whether the 80/20 rule applies to the employee’s overall workweek. The new rule takes effect on Dec. 28, 2021.