CashoutTipped minimum wage / North Dakota
North Dakota tipped minimum wage
What employers must pay
In North Dakota, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. An employer can pay a tipped employee as little as $4.86 an hour in cash, as long as tips bring the total to at least $7.25. The difference, $2.39, 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 $7.25 an hour in a workweek, your employer has to make up the difference.
What changes next
No change to the North Dakota minimum wage is scheduled. The tip credit is 33 percent of the minimum wage, so the cash wage changes only if the minimum wage changes.
Tip pooling and service charges
Tip pooling is allowed only among tipped employees, and a majority (50 percent plus one) of the tipped employees must approve it. Federal rules also bar employers, managers and supervisors from tips; at gaming sites, pit bosses and supervisors may not be in the pool.
Overtime
Time and a half after 40 hours in a week (50 hours for taxi drivers). Tipped overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the $4.86 cash wage.
Taxes on your tips
North Dakota 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 North Dakota's minimum of $7.25 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 North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights: how to file. You can also call the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, at 1-866-487-9243.
