Hospitality Alert Update on Minimum Wage

The New Hampshire's Lodging & Restaurant Association is updating employers in the hospitality industry on the following changes to the minimum wage, tipped wage, overtime for tipped employees, tip pooling and the actual definition of a tipped employee before the Monday, September 1 law takes effect.

Minimum Wage As of Sept. 1, 2008, the minimum wage will be $7.25

$7.25 on September 1, 2008 (per NH law)

Tipped Wage as of Sept. 1, 2008 the tip wage will be $3.27
Please note, the NHDOL rounds up the figure for the tipped wage in order to accommodate the not less than 45 percent requirement in call cases.

$3.27 on September 1, 2008 (per NH law)

Overtime for Tipped Employees

For tipped employees, operators should keep in mind that the law requires that an employee's regular rate of pay can never be less than the applicable minimum-wage rate. For example, an employer will be paying his or her tipped employees the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 hour, which is broken down into a cash wage of $3.25 per hour and a tip credit of $3.98 per hour. The operator should calculate tipped employees overtime rate by taking the current minimum wage of $7.25, divide it by half resulting and rounding up to $3.63 and then add the minimum tip wage of $3.27 for a final rate of $6.90.

Therefore, the overtime rates are calculated as:

$7.25/2 = $3.63 + $3.27 = $6.90 on September 1, 2008 (per NH law)

For full detailed information on calculating the overtime wage, also see the NRA Overtime Calculation Web Page.

Definition of a Tipped Employee

Tipped employees of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn or cabin, who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips directly from the customers will receive a base rate from the employer of not less than 45 percent of the applicable minimum wage. If an employee shows to the satisfaction of the commissioner that the actual amount of wages received at the end of each pay period did not equal the minimum wage for all hours worked, the employer shall pay the employee the difference to guarantee the applicable minimum wage.

Tip Pooling

Tips are wages and shall be the property of the employee receiving the tip and shall be retained by the employee, unless the employee voluntarily and without coercion agrees to participate in a tip pool which is not required and not controlled in any manner by the employer. If the employee agrees to participate, the employer is not precluded from administering a valid tip pool in which participation is voluntary, no coerced, and the employer exercises no control over the manner in which tips are pooled other than for accounting and bookkeeping purposes.

Click the links below for the NEW Minimum Wage Posters:

NH Minimum Wage Poster

Federal Minimum Wage Poster

If you have any additional questions, contact the NHLRA in Concord at 603.228.9585.
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