The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) released a draft administrative policy regarding tips, gratuities, and service charge requirements for employers. The new policy, titled “Tip, Gratuity, and Service Charge Examples,” consists primarily of examples to help answer employee questions and help employers comply with the Washington Minimum Wage Act’s requirements.
L&I previously issued a policy on March 6, 2019, concerning tips, gratuities, and service charges.
Following a brief primer on Washington law regarding tips and service charges, the new policy gives multiple examples (each containing a fact pattern, assessment of compliance, and explanation) for five specific topics: tips and wages, tip pooling, service charges, paydays, and deductions.
The examples regarding tips and wages focus primarily on employers that try to count tips toward an employee’s rate of pay for purposes of complying with minimum wage obligations.
Under Washington law, an employee must receive tips and gratuities in addition to the state minimum wage, an agreed wage rate, or a wage rate required by local ordinance, as applicable (small employers in the City of Seattle can count up to $2.19 per hour in tips toward the minimum compensation requirement, but they may not count tips toward the $16.50 minimum wage portion of that requirement). Tips and gratuities cannot be used to meet these requirements. One common practice targeted by the new guidance...
WASHINGTON, D.C., DC, UNITED STATES, May 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Brown, LLC, a nationally recognized whistleblower law firm and leader in False Claims Act (FCA) litigation, today announced t...