The $11.98 Question: What Tipped Workers in Palm Beach Gardens Should Check on Their Next Paycheck

On September 30, 2026, Florida’s minimum wage reaches $15.00 an hour, the final step in a series of increases voters approved in 2020. For servers, bartenders, and bussers, the more important number is $11.98. That is the new minimum cash wage owed before tips enter the picture. Our Palm Beach Gardens wage and hour attorneys see payroll mistakes multiply around raise dates, so the math is worth understanding now.

The Tip Credit Stays Frozen While Everything Else Moves

Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution lets employers count tips toward the minimum wage, but only up to a fixed $3.02 per hour. As the overall minimum wage climbs, the entire increase lands on the employer’s side of the ledger. Florida Statute Section 448.110 carries these rules into state law and gives workers a way to enforce them.

Tips cannot absorb a raise. A restaurant that keeps paying $10.98 after September 30 is not using a larger tip credit. It is simply underpaying.

Busy Nights Do Not Cancel Out Slow Ones

Tips are allowed to cover the gap between $11.98 and $15.00 only when they actually do. If a lunch shift brings in very little, the employer must make up the difference for those hours. The same logic reaches into overtime. Time and a half is calculated from the full $15.00 rate, not from the reduced cash wage, which produces a higher number than many payroll systems assume.

To claim the credit at all, employers must notify tipped employees about it and let them keep their tips, apart from lawful pooling among eligible coworkers. Managers and supervisors cannot share in those tips.

Red Flags Worth Looking For

A pay stub and schedule can reveal a lot. Watch for:

• An hourly rate still showing $10.98 or less on shifts worked after September 30, 2026
• Overtime paid at one and a half times the cash wage rather than the full minimum wage
• Hours of opening, closing, or prep work paid at the tipped rate when little or no tipping was possible
• Credit card processing fees deducted from tips in amounts larger than the actual charge
• A manager or owner taking a cut of the tip pool

None of these automatically proves a violation, but each is worth a closer look.

What Florida Law Offers Workers Who Are Shortchanged

Florida’s constitutional wage provision allows workers to recover back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, along with attorney’s fees. The window to bring a claim is generally four years, or five if the violation was willful. Before filing suit under Section 448.110, a worker usually must send the employer written notice identifying the unpaid amount and give it 15 days to resolve the claim.

Talk With Our Team Before the Numbers Get Buried

Wage problems tend to compound quietly, one shift at a time. If your paycheck after September 30 does not add up, or you have questions about how your employer handles tips or side work, we would like to hear from you. At Sconzo Law Office, we review pay records, explain what the law actually requires, and handle the pre-suit notice process on behalf of workers throughout Palm Beach County. Reach out to our Palm Beach Gardens employment lawyers to schedule a case evaluation.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0400-0499/0448/Sections/0448.110.html