Tipped Employee Protection Act
Key claim: This House bill would let employers treat any worker whose tips plus cash wages meet the federal minimum as a tipped employee—and pay them below the regular minimum wage—without looking at what tasks they actually perform.
Abstract
(HR2312 · 119th Congress) Tipped Employee Protection Act This bill modifies the definition of a tipped employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to exclude consideration of an employee’s duties when determining if the employee is a tipped employee. Under current law, tipped employees may be paid less than the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 an hour), but the total of their cash wage and tips must be at least equal to the federal minimum wage. Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is currently a worker who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. The bill broadens the definition of tipped employee to include any worker who receives tips and other cash wages for a work period at a rate that is at least the federal minimum wage, without regard to the duties of the employee. Under the bill, the work period is a work period that is determined by the employer. Latest action (2026-01-13): POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - Pursuant to clause 1© of rule XIX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on H.R. 2312 is postponed.
Why this matters
The FLSA’s tip credit lets employers pay a cash wage below the federal minimum ($2.13/hour) so long as tips make up the difference, but current rules limit this to workers in tipped occupations and restrict time spent on non-tipped side work. This bill would strip that occupational test out of the statute, letting any worker whose combined tips and cash wages clear the minimum be classified as tipped — a potentially significant expansion for restaurant, hospitality, and service employers and a corresponding narrowing of guaranteed cash-wage floors for workers.