CashoutGlossary / Side work
Side work
Untipped tasks tipped workers do around service, like rolling silverware or restocking. The 2021 federal 80/20 limit on it was struck down in 2024.
Side work is the prep, cleaning and restocking that keeps service running: rolling silverware, filling ice and condiments, cutting fruit at the bar, setting and breaking down tables. It doesn't earn tips directly, which raises the question of whether you can be paid the tipped cash wage while you do it.
The federal answer changed in 2024. The DOL's 2021 rule, known as the 80/20 rule, limited how much side work could be paid at the tipped wage. A federal appeals court vacated it in Restaurant Law Center v. U.S. Department of Labor (5th Cir. 2024), and in December 2024 the DOL restored the original dual jobs regulation.
Under that rule, the tip credit doesn't apply to time in a separate untipped job, such as a hotel maintenance worker who also waits tables. But related duties inside a tipped job, like a server cleaning and setting tables or making coffee, can be paid at the tipped rate, even though those duties don't produce tips by themselves.
Your cash wage plus tips still has to reach the full minimum wage each workweek, side work hours included. In states with no tip credit the question doesn't come up, since you get the full minimum wage for every hour. Some states keep their own limit: Pennsylvania says a worker paid with a tip credit can't spend more than 20 percent of weekly hours on duties that don't directly generate tips.
A common mistake is relying on older articles that still describe the 80/20 rule as federal law. Keep a note of long side work blocks, like an hour of opening prep before the doors open, so you can check the week's math.
Related terms
80/20 rule · Tip credit · Tipped employee · Front of house (FOH) · Department of Labor (DOL)
