CashoutTipped minimum wage / Delaware
Delaware tipped minimum wage
What employers must pay
In Delaware, the minimum wage is $15.00 an hour. An employer can pay a tipped employee as little as $2.23 an hour in cash, as long as tips bring the total to at least $15.00. The difference, $12.77, is the tip credit.
Who counts as a tipped employee: more than $30 a month in tips.
If your cash wage plus tips comes up short of $15.00 an hour in a workweek, your employer has to make up the difference.
What changes next
No change to the Delaware minimum wage is scheduled. The $15.00 rate took effect January 1, 2025. It is not tied to inflation, so it stays the same until lawmakers change it.
Tip pooling and service charges
Tips belong to the employee who served the customer. Employees may set up their own pool, but an employer may not force one, except that where several employees serve the same customer the employer may require sharing of up to 15% of the primary server's tips. The employer may never receive any part of pooled tips.
A mandatory service charge belongs to the serving employees unless the menu, placard or bill states in bold type that all or part of it goes to the house.
Overtime
Delaware has no separate overtime rule, so federal law applies: time and a half after 40 hours a week, with no daily overtime. Tipped overtime is figured on the full $15.00 minimum, not the $2.23 cash wage.
Taxes on your tips
Delaware taxes wage income, and tips are wages, so its income tax applies to your tips. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply. The federal tip deduction can cut the income tax part: see how the No Tax on Tips deduction works.
Check a week's pay
Enter one workweek to see whether your cash wage plus tips reached Delaware's minimum of $15.00 an hour.
You reached the minimum this week.
You came up short. Your employer owes you at least
If you are underpaid
Start by comparing your pay stubs with your own record of hours and tips. If the numbers don't add up, you can file a complaint with the Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs, Office of Labor Law Enforcement: how to file. You can also call the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, at 1-866-487-9243.
