If you’ve ever worked as a server or bartender at a restaurant, you’ve likely experienced a dreaded part of the job: side work. Whether it is rolling silverware, topping off ketchup bottles, or cleaning your section, nobody likes side work. However, a recent update in Massachusetts law offers a silver lining: your employer must pay you $15 per hour for side work as opposed to the lower service rate of $6.75 per hour.

In Massachusetts, the basic minimum wage is $15 per hour. However, so long as certain requirements are met, employers can pay service employees (such as servers and bartenders) a $6.75 “service rate.” Generally, if the service rate plus the employee’s tips equal at least $15 per hour, the employer does not need to pay anything more than $6.75 per hour.

However, a recent opinion letter from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards (DLS) – the agency tasked with enforcing the minimum wage law – has made an important clarification: employers must pay service employees $15 per hour for side work and other non-service work regardless of the amount of tips they receive.

In the opinion letter, the DLS explains that an employer can only pay the service rate of $6.75 per hour for “Tipped Work,” meaning service work performed directly for a customer, such as serving food or beverages or clearing a customer’s table. For all other work – “Non-Tipped Work” – the employer must pay the employee the basic minimum wage of $15 per hour, even if, when combined with the employee’s tips, they are receiving in excess of the basic minimum wage.

The DLS provided a helpful example:

[T]ake an employee who does kitchen prep work for one hour, waits tables for six hours, and cleans for one hour during the same workday. Assuming the employer otherwise meets the requirements […], the employer can pay the Service Rate to the employee for the six hours that the employee waits tables, as long as the tips that employee receives, either directly or through a tip pool, equal or exceed the minimum wage. However, the employer would have to pay the employee at least minimum wage for the two hours that the employee performed Non-Tipped Work, even if the employee had made more than minimum wage from the combination of the Service Rate and the tips during the six hours of Tipped Work.

If you work as a server, bartender, or other service employee and you do not receive at least $15 per hour for side work or other Non-Tipped Work, contact us:

Phone: (617) 338-9400
Email: info@masswagelaw.com

We will assess your case at no charge.