Given this is a wage and hour blog, I feel compelled to address the changes the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) made on February 15, 2019, to its Field Operations Handbook (FOH). Specifically, following up to Opinion Letter FLSAS2018-27, (as I wrote about here), 30d00(f) was amended as noted in Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2019-2. This amendment clarifies that employers may make a tip credit for duties performed in a tipped occupation that relate to that occupation, and that are performed contemporaneously, or reasonably before/after tipped activities. The revision rescinds the old 20% limit on non-tipped activities. How do you know whether a job duty is tipped or non-tipped? The FOH directs DOL staff to the non-tipped duties examples at 29 C.F.R. 531.56(e), and O*Net (Occupational Information Network).

That being said, this is a Minnesota wage and hour blog, don’t cha know! Thus, in Minnesota, employers cannot take tip credits to meet minimum wage obligations. Accordingly, it is wholly irrelevant unless you have business elsewhere.