# Hawaii restaurant pay rules (2026): what to pay tipped and non-tipped staff

*Guides · Mays Team · November 11, 2026*

![Alerts & Reports in Mays: two labor cost alerts, one for a Honolulu location and one for every location, each set to a share of sales, and a weekly Labor Summary report emailed for Honolulu](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__hawaii-restaurant-pay-rules-2026__cover.57895550f9.png)

Hawaii's minimum wage is $16.00 an hour, and it stays there through 2027: the next step, to $18.00, comes on January 1, 2028 ([Hawaii DLIR, minimum wage](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/minimum-wage/)). The tip credit is small, $1.25 an hour, and it comes with a condition: a tipped employee's cash wages plus tips have to reach at least $7.00 more than the minimum wage, or the credit shrinks or disappears ([HRS § 387-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0002.htm)). Two more rules reach almost every restaurant: health coverage for staff who work 20 hours a week or more, and temporary disability insurance ([Hawaii DLIR, Prepaid Health Care](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-phc/); [Hawaii DLIR, TDI](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-tdi/)).

This page puts Hawaii's figures in one place. It covers what you owe tipped staff like servers and bartenders, what you owe everyone else, and two example weeks with the math shown. Every figure links to the official page it comes from.

**Checked September 24, 2026:** we read every figure on this page on its official source that day. We re-read the next minimum wage change on its official source on October 6, 2026. Hawaii's rates don't change on January 1, 2027. In 2026, bills to move the $18.00 step up to 2027, or to cancel it, stalled in committee ([HB2506 (2026)](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=2506&year=2026); [HB1533 (2026)](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1533&year=2026)).

*This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies can depend on your business's size and your own facts; the note at the end says more.*

## Hawaii pay rules at a glance

As of November 11, 2026:

| Rule | Hawaii |
| --- | --- |
| Minimum wage | **$16.00** an hour, since January 1, 2026 |
| Tipped employees: minimum cash wage | **$14.75** an hour, if you take the tip credit |
| Maximum tip credit | **$1.25** an hour |
| Who counts as tipped | Customarily and regularly receives more than **$20** a month in tips |
| Overtime | **1.5×** the regular rate after **40** hours in a workweek; no daily overtime |
| Meal and rest breaks for adults | Not required by Hawaii or federal law |
| Next change | **$18.00** minimum wage and **$16.50** tipped cash wage from **January 1, 2028** |

Sources: [Hawaii DLIR, minimum wage](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/minimum-wage/); [Hawaii DLIR, tip credit notice](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2022/06/Tip_Credit_Notice_with_exhibits_June2022.pdf); [HRS § 387-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0002.htm); [HRS § 387-1](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0001.htm); [HRS § 387-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0003.htm); [Hawaii DLIR, breaks](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/).

## Who counts as a tipped employee in Hawaii

In Hawaii, a tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than **$20** a month in tips ([HRS § 387-1](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0001.htm)).

In a restaurant that usually means servers, bartenders, bussers and counter staff who serve customers, including baristas who get tips. Cooks and dishwashers usually aren't tipped employees. Only tips the employee actually receives count. If someone works two jobs, say a server who also works prep shifts, the tip credit applies only to the hours in the tipped job ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).

## What you must pay tipped staff in Hawaii

Servers, bartenders, bussers and baristas who get tips can be paid a lower cash wage, with part of their tips counted toward the minimum wage. That's the tip credit, and it comes with conditions:

- **Pay at least $14.75 an hour in cash wages.** That's the $16.00 minimum wage minus the most you can credit from tips, $1.25 ([Hawaii DLIR, tip credit notice](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2022/06/Tip_Credit_Notice_with_exhibits_June2022.pdf)).
- **Cash wages plus tips must come to at least $23.00 an hour, $7.00 more than the $16.00 minimum wage** ([HRS § 387-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0002.htm)). Tips are averaged over the hours worked in the week: the full $1.25 credit needs them to average $8.25 an hour or more, a lower average allows only the part above $7.00, and at $7.00 an hour or less there's no credit at all, so you pay the full $16.00 ([Hawaii DLIR, tip credit notice](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2022/06/Tip_Credit_Notice_with_exhibits_June2022.pdf)).
- **Tell them first.** Before you take the tip credit, tell each tipped employee, in writing or out loud: the cash wage you pay, the tip credit you claim, that the credit can't be more than the tips they actually get, that they keep all their tips except through a valid tip pool, and that the credit doesn't apply unless you've told them all this ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **Overtime is figured on the full minimum wage.** An overtime hour is worth 1.5 × $16.00 = $24.00. After the $1.25 tip credit, you pay at least $22.75 of it in cash wages ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **From January 1, 2028,** the minimum wage is $18.00 ([Hawaii DLIR, minimum wage](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/minimum-wage/)) and the tipped cash wage $16.50: the new minimum wage minus a tip credit that rises to $1.50 ([HRS § 387-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0002.htm)).

You don't have to take the tip credit. If you pay tipped staff the full $16.00 an hour, their tips are all on top, there's nothing to make up at the end of the week, and you can put kitchen staff in the tip pool (see below).

### Hawaii's own tip-credit rules

- **In writing, at hire.** Tell each employee in writing when you hire them if you'll use the tip credit, and put any change in writing or on a posted notice before the pay period it applies to ([HAR ch. 12-20](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-20.pdf)).
- **Weekly records.** Keep each tipped employee's tips for the week and the credit per hour you took, and tell the employee in writing each time that credit changes from the week before ([HAR ch. 12-20](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-20.pdf)).
- **From January 1, 2028,** the same rule means cash wages plus tips of at least $25.00 an hour ([Hawaii DLIR, tip credit notice](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2022/06/Tip_Credit_Notice_with_exhibits_June2022.pdf)).

## What you must pay non-tipped staff in Hawaii

Cooks, dishwashers, prep cooks, and cashiers or counter staff who don't get tips are paid like any other hourly employee:

- **At least $16.00 an hour for every hour worked**, and at least $18.00 from January 1, 2028 ([Hawaii DLIR, minimum wage](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/minimum-wage/)). No tip credit applies.
- **The same goes for a tipped employee's hours in a non-tipped job,** like a server's prep shift ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **Overtime is at least 1.5 times their regular rate** for hours over 40 in a workweek. At $16.00 an hour, that's $24.00 ([HRS § 387-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0003.htm)).
- **Can they share in the tip pool?** Only if you take no tip credit and everyone in the pool gets at least the full $16.00. That's the federal rule; Hawaii sets none of its own on who may share ([US DOL, tips](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips)).

## Worked examples (made-up numbers)

The names, hours and tips below are made up. The rates are Hawaii's as of November 11, 2026.

### A server's week and the $7.00 rule

Sam is a server. He works 30 hours in each of two weeks: a busy one with $480 in tips and a slow one with $225.

|  | Busy week | Slow week |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hours worked | 30 | 30 |
| Tips received | $480 | $225 |
| Tips per hour | $16.00 | $7.50 |
| Tip credit per hour (tips per hour − $7.00, up to $1.25) | $1.25 | $0.50 |
| Cash wage per hour ($16.00 − tip credit) | $14.75 | $15.50 |
| Cash wages for the week | $442.50 | **$465.00** |
| Cash wages + tips, per hour | $30.75 | $23.00 |

In the busy week the full $1.25 credit applies, so the $14.75 cash wage is enough. In the slow week Sam's tips average only $7.50 an hour, $0.50 above the $7.00 line, so you can credit just $0.50 an hour and pay him $15.50 an hour: $465.00 for the week instead of $442.50. Had his tips averaged $7.00 an hour or less, you'd pay the full $16.00 for every hour. Either way, every dollar of tips is still Sam's.

### A cook's week with overtime

Ana is a line cook paid the Hawaii minimum wage, $16.00 an hour. Over five days she works 9, 10, 8, 10 and 9 hours: 46 hours in all.

|  | Hours | Rate | Pay |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Regular hours | 40 | $16.00 | $640.00 |
| Overtime hours (over 40) | 6 | $24.00 (1.5 × $16.00) | $144.00 |
| **Total** | **46** |  | **$784.00** |

Overtime is counted by the workweek, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks: a long week earns overtime even if the next one is short ([US DOL, overtime](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime)). Bonuses can change the rate too; see [Time clock, breaks and overtime: first-month payroll mistakes to avoid](https://www.mays.app/blog/time-clock-breaks-overtime-payroll-mistakes).

## Tip pooling rules in Hawaii

Hawaii has its own rules on pooled tips ([HAR ch. 12-20](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-20.pdf)): Only the tips each employee actually receives and keeps after a pool count toward the tip credit, and a compulsory service charge is never counted as a tip. Hawaii sets no rule of its own on who may be in a pool, on managers or on card fees.

Federal rules apply too, and where the two differ, follow the stricter one ([US DOL, tips](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips)):

- **The business, its managers and supervisors never keep employees' tips.** A manager can't take anything from a pool; they may keep only tips for service they directly and solely provide. An owner with a real stake who helps run the business counts as a manager too.
- **With a tip credit,** a pool you require can include only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips: servers, bartenders, bussers, counter staff who serve customers.
- **Without a tip credit,** when everyone in the pool gets at least the full minimum wage, you can include cooks and dishwashers.
- **Card fees:** you may reduce a card tip by the percentage the card company actually charges you, and no more ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **Service charges:** under federal law, a mandatory service charge isn't a tip: money you share from one is wages, and it counts in the regular rate for overtime ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)). Hawaii adds its own rule: a hotel or restaurant that adds a service charge for food or beverage service must either pay the whole charge to its employees as tip income or clearly tell the customer that the charge pays for costs other than wages and tips of employees ([HRS § 481B-14](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol11_Ch0476-0490/HRS0481B/HRS_0481B-0014.htm)).
- **Pay pooled tips out by the regular payday** for the week or pay period ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).

How to split a pool fairly, with a worked example: [Tip pooling for new restaurant owners](https://www.mays.app/blog/tip-pooling-new-restaurant-owners).

## Overtime in Hawaii

Hawaii's overtime law draws the same line as the federal one ([HRS § 387-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0003.htm)): non-exempt employees get at least **1.5 times** their regular rate for hours over **40** in a workweek ([US DOL, overtime](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime)).

A workweek is any fixed, recurring stretch of seven days that you choose, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks. There's no daily overtime, no double time and no seventh-day premium under Hawaii or federal law, and weekend or holiday hours don't earn a premium by law.

For tipped staff, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage (see the tipped section above).

## Breaks in Hawaii

- **Meal breaks:** No specific Hawaii rule found — federal rules apply ([Hawaii DLIR, breaks](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/)). The FLSA does not require meal periods. A bona fide meal period (typically 30+ minutes) is not work time ([US DOL, breaks](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks)).
- **Rest breaks:** No specific Hawaii rule found — federal rules apply ([Hawaii DLIR, breaks](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/)). The FLSA does not require breaks. Short breaks an employer offers (about 5 to 20 minutes) are paid work time ([US DOL, breaks](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks)).
- **Minors:** 14- and 15-year-olds: no more than 5 consecutive hours without at least a 30-minute rest or meal period. No break rule stated for 16-17 ([Hawaii DLIR, child labor](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/child-labor/)).

## Other Hawaii rules that affect pay

- **Reporting-time pay:** No specific Hawaii rule found — federal rules apply ([Hawaii DLIR, wage and hour FAQs](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/wage-and-hour-faqs/)).
- **Paid sick leave:** No specific Hawaii rule found — federal rules apply ([Hawaii DLIR, vacation and sick leave](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/vacation-and-sick-leave/)). No federal paid sick leave requirement. The FMLA provides unpaid, job-protected leave (up to 12 weeks) where it applies ([US DOL, sick leave](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/sickleave)).
- **Food handler training:** A certified food protection manager or person in charge is required on every shift. Who: at least one employee with food-handler-level certification present during all operating hours (not every food employee) ([Hawaii DOH, food safety education](https://health.hawaii.gov/san/food-safety-education/)).

### Health coverage and disability insurance

- **Prepaid Health Care.** Provide health coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours a week and earn at least 86.67 times the Hawaii minimum wage a month, starting after 4 consecutive weeks of work. You pay at least half the premium, and an employee's share can't be more than half the premium or 1.5% of their monthly wages, whichever is less ([Hawaii DLIR, Prepaid Health Care](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-phc/)).
- **Temporary disability insurance.** Every employer provides TDI coverage, which partly replaces wages when an employee can't work because of an injury or illness off the job. You can withhold up to 0.5% of an eligible employee's weekly wages toward it, and no more than $7.50 a week in 2026 ([Hawaii DLIR, TDI](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-tdi/); [Hawaii DLIR, 2026 TDI figures](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/files/2025/12/2026-Maximum-Weekly-Wage-Base.pdf)).

### Paydays, final pay and deductions

- **Paydays.** Pay at least twice a month on regular paydays set in advance, within 7 days after the end of each pay period ([HRS § 388-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0002.htm)).
- **Final pay.** Someone you let go is paid in full when they leave, or by the next working day if that isn't possible. Someone who quits is paid by the next regular payday, or when they leave if they gave a pay period's notice ([HRS § 388-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0003.htm)).
- **Deductions.** Fines, shortages from a shared cash drawer, breakage, bad checks and losses from customers who don't pay can't come out of wages ([HRS § 388-6](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0006.htm)).

### Teenagers and alcohol

- **Certificates.** Anyone under 18 needs a child labor certificate to work ([Hawaii DLIR, child labor](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/child-labor/)).
- **Ages 14 and 15.** No more than 3 hours on a school day or 18 in a school week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. ([HRS § 390-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0390/HRS_0390-0002.htm)). No cooking, except at a lunch counter or snack bar, and no baking ([HAR ch. 12-25](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-25.pdf)).
- **Alcohol.** Staff aged 18 to 20 can serve or sell liquor where that's part of their job and they're supervised ([HRS § 281-78](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0281/HRS_0281-0078.htm)). In Honolulu, bartenders need a liquor card, which takes server training and an age of at least 18 ([Honolulu Liquor Commission](https://www.honolulu.gov/liq/services/get-a-liquor-card/)).

## Local rates in Hawaii

We found no Hawaii city or county with its own minimum wage, so the state figures apply across Hawaii.

## How Mays helps

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For Hawaii pay rules, that means:

- **Positions and wages.** Give each position a default hourly wage, for example the tipped cash wage for servers and at least the minimum wage for cooks. Turn on Labor law compliance and Mays looks up each location's minimum wage from its address and warns you when a position's default wage, someone's hourly wage or a punch is below it, comparing tipped positions with the tipped cash wage when it has that figure. It never blocks the save. It switches to the new rate on January 1, 2028 by itself, and admins get a reminder 30 and 7 days before, listing the wages below the new rate.
- **A tip pool per location.** Split pooled tips by hours worked, equally or by FTAR score, per pay period or day by day, and choose which positions receive. Until you pick positions under **Who receives**, the positions marked **Tipped** share the tips; if no position is marked, everyone who worked does, cooks included. So if you take a tip credit, tick **Tipped position** only on positions whose staff get tips, or pick them yourself. A punch with no position counts under its shift's position, or else the person's primary or only position at that location; with neither, its hours get no share, and the tip pool card shows how many punches that leaves out. **Leave managers and admins out of the pool** is on by default, so leave it on. The tips come from your connected POS at that location (Square or Union) or from tips synced with 7shifts time punches, and each person's share appears in the Tip Payouts report and the payroll export. With Labor law compliance on, Mays can take your card processor's fee out of card tips, but check Hawaii's rule before you turn that on: the tip pool card links the official source. With Labor law compliance on, the card also lists Hawaii's service-charge rule as a checklist, with its source.
- **The $7.00 test is yours to check.** Mays doesn't compare a tipped employee's cash wages plus tips with the minimum wage, so check each week's tips per hour the way the server example above does, and pay the higher cash wage for any week that needs it.
- **Time clock and timesheets.** Staff clock in on their phone, a shared kiosk or an NFC tag. Timesheets run by pay period. Overtime is counted by the workweek, and with Labor law compliance on, by any daily, double-time and seventh-day rule the location's state sets too, which Mays reads from its address; the schedule's labor cost, the reports and the pay summary all include it.
- **Payroll export.** A standard CSV or a Gusto-format CSV with regular and overtime hours and pooled tips for each employee. A card surcharge you share with staff goes in as wages, not tips.
- **Minors.** Turn on Labor law compliance and work rules for minors at a location, and Mays warns you when a shift breaks a minor's hours or time-of-day limits under federal law, and the auto-scheduler won't put a minor on one. It doesn't track minors' breaks yet, so build a minor's meal break into their shifts when you schedule them.
- **A certified person on every shift.** Turn on Labor law compliance and keep food handler and manager certificates in Mays with their expiry dates. Before you publish, the schedule warns about any stretch with nobody certified on shift, and Mays reminds people before a certificate expires.
- **A labor cost alert per location.** Insights → **Alerts & Reports** can notify you the morning after a day when labor ran at or above the share of your point-of-sale sales you pick, at one location or all of them, and email a weekly or monthly Labor Summary to the people you choose.

## Sources

Every figure on this page comes from these official pages, as they read on the date shown.

- [Hawaii DLIR Wage Standards Division, minimum wage and overtime](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/minimum-wage/), checked October 6, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 387-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0002.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR Disability Compensation Division, about Prepaid Health Care](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-phc/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR Disability Compensation Division, about Temporary Disability Insurance](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/home/about-tdi/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii State Legislature, HB2506 (2026)](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=2506&year=2026), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii State Legislature, HB1533 (2026)](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1533&year=2026), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, tip credit notice and calculation tables (June 2022)](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2022/06/Tip_Credit_Notice_with_exhibits_June2022.pdf), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 387-1](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0001.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 387-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0387/HRS_0387-0003.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, breaks (meal and rest)](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/breaks-meal-rest/), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #15: tipped employees under the FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Administrative Rules, chapter 12-20 (wage and hour)](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-20.pdf), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, tips under the FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, overtime pay](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 481B-14](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol11_Ch0476-0490/HRS0481B/HRS_0481B-0014.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, breaks and meal periods](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, child labor](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/child-labor/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, wage and hour FAQs](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/wage-and-hour-faqs/), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, sick leave](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/sickleave), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, vacation and sick leave](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/vacation-and-sick-leave/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Department of Health, food safety education](https://health.hawaii.gov/san/food-safety-education/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii DLIR, 2026 maximum weekly wage base and TDI deduction](https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/files/2025/12/2026-Maximum-Weekly-Wage-Base.pdf), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 388-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0002.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 388-3](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0003.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 388-6](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0388/HRS_0388-0006.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 390-2](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0390/HRS_0390-0002.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Administrative Rules, chapter 12-25 (child labor)](https://labor.hawaii.gov/wsd/files/2013/01/12-25.pdf), checked September 24, 2026
- [Hawaii Revised Statutes § 281-78](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0281/HRS_0281-0078.htm), checked September 24, 2026
- [Honolulu Liquor Commission, get a liquor card](https://www.honolulu.gov/liq/services/get-a-liquor-card/), checked September 24, 2026

*This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and coverage rules (your business's size, whether federal law covers you) decide which of them apply. Check the pages above, and ask an employment lawyer or accountant about your situation.*

## Run Hawaii payroll on the right numbers

Set each position's wage, turn on the tip pool with managers left out, and let the time clock count overtime by the workweek. Then payroll is an export, not an evening.

[**Start your free trial**](https://go.mays.app/register): 30 days, every module, no card needed. Setting up a tip pool? Read [Tip pooling for new restaurant owners](https://www.mays.app/blog/tip-pooling-new-restaurant-owners).

## Related help articles

- Time clock: [Tip pooling](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/tip-pooling) — Pool a location's tips and share them out by hours worked, equally or by FTAR score — choose who takes part, keep managers out, and pay the shares through the payroll export.
- Time clock: [Timesheets and pay periods](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/timesheets-and-pay-periods) — Review every punch in a pay period on the Time Clock page — fix, add or delete punches, approve them, check warnings and hours, then close the period for payroll.
- Scheduling: [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — Create the jobs people work — Barista, Cashier, Line Cook — with a colour and a default hourly wage, give people their positions and pay, and see where Mays uses them.
- Time clock: [Labor & compliance (per location)](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/labor-compliance) — Where: Locations & Users → Locations → a location → Scheduling tab → Labor & compliance card.
- Time clock: [Exporting payroll (CSV and Gusto)](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/payroll-export-and-gusto) — Download a pay period's hours as a Standard CSV or a Gusto timesheet, and add your Gusto employee IDs so the Gusto file imports cleanly.

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/blog/hawaii-restaurant-pay-rules-2026