<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ABQ Jon:
The situation is a bit worse than that (well, worse if you've ever been employed as waitstaff
). Anyone who is classified as a
tipped employee can be paid as little as $2.13/hr. The U.S. Department of Labor has a brief explanation on
this page.</font>
The employer is required to make up the difference between wage+tips if it is less than standard minimum wage.
That is, the tip-dependent minimum wage could be zero, and the employee is still guaranteed at least the standard minimum wage.