The U.S. Department of Labor has denounced the rule known as the 80/20 in which employers were previously not allowed to use subminimum wage for non-tipped side work. Since 2009, employers were not allowed to pay employees who spent more than 20% of their time at work doing non-tipping related jobs (folding napkins, setting tables, etc.) subminimum wage.
The updated rules said, “The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will no longer prohibit an employer from taking a tip credit based on the amount of time an employee spends performing duties related to a tip-producing occupation that are performed contemporaneously with direct customer-service duties or for a reasonable time immediately before or after performing such direct-service duties.”
