Yes.

The Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay tipped workers the federal tipped minimum of $2.13 by claiming up to $5.12 of an employee’s tips as credit towards the $7.25 minimum wage. 

The amount claimed cannot exceed the tips actually received – if an employee does not receive $5.12 in tips, the employer must pay the difference. 

The federal tipped minimum has not increased since its inception in 1991 – despite being set at half the minimum wage, a 1996 amendment to the FLSA locked it at $2.13. 

According to OK Policy, tipped workers’ exclusion from minimum wage laws is rooted in racism; recently emancipated Black people largely worked tip-reliant jobs. Women disproportionately work tipped occupations nationwide and represent 75% of such workers in Oklahoma. 

The annual median income for restaurant servers in Oklahoma was about $4,000 above the federal poverty level in 2024.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

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