Employers are legally allowed to include the tips that
servers receive as part of the minimum wage, which makes the employer
responsible for a smaller share of the server’s hourly wage. The current
minimum hourly wage in Connecticut is $8.70. The Connecticut
General Assembly recently passed Senate Bill
No. 32, which sets the 2015 minimum hourly wage at $9.00. For a restaurant
server in Connecticut, however, the current hourly wage is $5.69 and will rise
to $5.78 in 2015.
To calculate severs’ pay, the law requires that the overall
minimum wage be reduced by a statutorily set percentage. This percentage is
commonly referred to as the “tip credit.” The current “tip credit” for servers,
as set by Connecticut
General Statute Section 31-60 is 34.6%. For an example of the “tip credit”
calculation, click here.
Connecticut servers fare far better, as compared to servers
in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, for example. The current hourly minimum wage
for a server in Rhode Island server is $2.89.
In Massachusetts, it’s $2.63 per hour.
Attorney David
Rintoul has experience handling wage and hour claims and can work with you
to make sure you are being paid fairly and correctly.
