Guides

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

Mays TeamApril 15, 2026
The Warnings tab of a pay period in Mays, the two weeks ending April 12, 2026: a missing punch-out, a punch with no matching shift and a punch the time clock closed automatically, each with a way to fix it before payroll

Louisiana has no minimum wage law and no overtime law of its own. An employer the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers pays at least $7.25 an hour, or a $2.13 cash wage to tipped staff whose tips make up the rest (US DOL, state minimum wage laws). A business with $500,000 or more in yearly sales is covered, and a smaller one can be too, through staff whose work regularly involves commerce across state lines (DOL Fact Sheet #14). Louisiana's own rules are about paying on time: someone who leaves is paid within 15 days at the latest, and an employer who holds back final pay after a demand can owe up to 90 days' wages on top (La. R.S. 23:631; La. R.S. 23:632).

This page puts Louisiana'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.

Updated September 24, 2026: these figures are still current. The minimum wage for Louisiana employers the federal law covers is the federal $7.25 an hour ($2.13 cash wage for tipped employees). Since May 11, 2026, a minor's employment certificate is a Louisiana Works form the minor completes before starting work, instead of one issued through the school (Louisiana Works, employment certificates; Act 61 of 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.

Louisiana pay rules at a glance

As of April 15, 2026:

Rule

Louisiana

Minimum wage

$7.25 an hour, since July 24, 2009 (the federal rate; Louisiana sets no higher one)

Tipped employees: minimum cash wage

$2.13 an hour, if you take the tip credit

Maximum tip credit

$5.12 an hour

Who counts as tipped

Customarily and regularly receives more than $30 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 Louisiana or federal law

Sources: US DOL, minimum wage; US DOL, tipped wages by state; US DOL, overtime; US DOL, state meal periods; US DOL, state rest periods.

Who counts as a tipped employee in Louisiana

Louisiana has no threshold of its own, so the federal one applies: a tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips (US DOL, tipped wages by state).

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).

What you must pay tipped staff in Louisiana

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 $2.13 an hour in cash wages. That's the $7.25 minimum wage minus the most you can credit from tips, $5.12 (US DOL, tipped wages by state).
  • Cash wages plus tips must reach $7.25 for every hour worked, week by week. If tips fall short in a workweek, you pay the difference by the regular payday for that week (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • 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).
  • Overtime is figured on the full minimum wage. An overtime hour is worth 1.5 × $7.25 = $10.875. After the $5.12 tip credit, you pay at least $5.755 of it in cash wages (DOL Fact Sheet #15).

You don't have to take the tip credit. If you pay tipped staff the full $7.25 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).

What you must pay non-tipped staff in Louisiana

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

  • At least $7.25 an hour for every hour worked (US DOL, 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).
  • Overtime is at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. At $7.25 an hour, that's $10.875 (US DOL, overtime).
  • Can they share in the tip pool? Only if you take no tip credit and pay everyone in the pool at least the full minimum wage. If you take a tip credit, a pool you require can include only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips (US DOL, tips). Managers and supervisors can never take from the pool.

Worked examples (made-up numbers)

The names, hours and tips below are made up. The rates are the federal ones that apply in Louisiana as of April 15, 2026.

A server's week: when you have to top up

Sam is a server paid the $2.13 cash wage. He works 36 hours in each of two weeks: a busy one with $500.00 in tips and a slow one with $120.00.


Busy week

Slow week

Hours worked

36

36

Cash wages (36 × $2.13)

$76.68

$76.68

Tips received

$500.00

$120.00

Cash wages + tips

$576.68

$196.68

Minimum for the week (36 × $7.25)

$261.00

$261.00

You pay on top

$0.00

$64.32

In the slow week, $120.00 in tips covers only part of the $184.32 tip credit (36 × $5.12), so you pay the difference by the regular payday: $261.00 − $196.68 = $64.32. In the busy week you owe nothing extra, and every dollar of tips is still Sam's.

A cook's week with overtime

Ana is a line cook paid the federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. Over five days she works 10, 8, 9, 10 and 8 hours: 45 hours in all.


Hours

Rate

Pay

Regular hours

40

$7.25

$290.00

Overtime hours (over 40)

5

$10.875 (1.5 × $7.25)

$54.38

Total

45


$344.38

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). Bonuses can change the rate too; see Time clock, breaks and overtime: first-month payroll mistakes to avoid.

Tip pooling rules in Louisiana

Under federal law, which applies in every state (US DOL, 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).
  • Service charges aren't tips. Money you share with staff from a mandatory service charge is wages, and it counts in the regular rate for overtime (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • Pay pooled tips out by the regular payday for the week or pay period (DOL Fact Sheet #15).

How to split a pool fairly, with a worked example: Tip pooling for new restaurant owners.

Overtime in Louisiana

Louisiana has no overtime law of its own (US DOL, state minimum wage laws), so the federal rule applies: non-exempt employees get at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (US DOL, 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 Louisiana 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 Louisiana

  • Meal breaks: No specific Louisiana rule found — federal rules apply (US DOL, state meal periods). The FLSA does not require meal periods. A bona fide meal period (typically 30+ minutes) is not work time (US DOL, breaks).
  • Rest breaks: No specific Louisiana rule found — federal rules apply (US DOL, state rest periods). The FLSA does not require breaks. Short breaks an employer offers (about 5 to 20 minutes) are paid work time (US DOL, breaks).
  • Minors: Under 16: at least a 30-minute meal break in every five hours of work, documented in the employer's normal timekeeping system; a break of 20 minutes or more, or a work period no more than 10 minutes over five hours, is not a violation. A time edit for a missed punch is acknowledged in writing by the minor and the manager who makes it (La. R.S. 23:213).

Other Louisiana rules that affect pay

  • Paid sick leave: No specific Louisiana rule found — federal rules apply (La. R.S. 23:642). No federal paid sick leave requirement. The FMLA provides unpaid, job-protected leave (up to 12 weeks) where it applies (US DOL, sick leave).
  • Food handler training: A certified food protection manager is required, not a card for every employee. Who: one person per retail food establishment with an LDH Food Safety Manager certificate (LDH, food safety certification).

Paydays, final pay and deductions

  • Tell new hires how they'll be paid. At hire, tell employees what they'll be paid, how and how often. If you don't set paydays, pay on the first and sixteenth of each month (La. R.S. 23:633).
  • Final pay. Someone who's let go or quits is paid by the next regular payday or within 15 days, whichever comes first (La. R.S. 23:631).
  • Penalty wages. Miss that deadline after the employee asks for their pay and you can owe 90 days' wages or full wages from the demand until you pay, whichever is less, plus attorney's fees if they sue; a good-faith dispute over the amount limits it to the wages in dispute and interest (La. R.S. 23:632).
  • No fines. You can't fine employees or deduct fines from their wages. The exceptions are goods or property they damage willfully or through negligence and a theft conviction, and even then no more than the actual damage (La. R.S. 23:635).
  • No charging for drug tests. You can't make an employee or applicant pay for fingerprinting, a medical exam or a drug test, or take the cost out of their pay (La. R.S. 23:897).

Teenagers and alcohol

  • Employment certificates. Keep an employment certificate on file for each minor you employ, where an inspector can see it at work (La. R.S. 23:182).
  • Hours for under-16s. No more than 3 hours on a school day or 18 in a school week, and no work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. (9 p.m. from the start of June through Labor Day) (La. R.S. 23:214; La. R.S. 23:215).
  • Before a school day, a 16-year-old who hasn't graduated can't work between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., or a 17-year-old between midnight and 5 a.m. (La. R.S. 23:215).
  • Alcohol. At a restaurant, nobody under 18 can sell, mix or serve alcohol for drinking on the premises (La. R.S. 26:90). Everyone who serves alcohol needs a responsible vendor server permit within 45 days of starting, and it lasts 4 years (La. R.S. 26:934; Louisiana ATC, FAQs).

Local rates in Louisiana

Louisiana law bars parishes and cities from requiring private employers to pay a minimum wage other than the state or federal one (La. R.S. 23:642). The same law bars them from requiring a minimum number of vacation or sick days, paid or unpaid, and another stops them from requiring food safety training or a test for restaurant staff (La. R.S. 40:5.5). So the federal $7.25 minimum wage applies everywhere in Louisiana, and there's no local rate table for Louisiana.

How Mays helps

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For Louisiana 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.
  • 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 Louisiana's rule before you turn that on: the tip pool card links the official source.
  • The tip-credit make-up is yours to check. Mays doesn't compare a tipped employee's cash wages plus tips with the minimum wage, so check each workweek the way the server example above does.
  • 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.
  • Food protection manager certificate. Turn on Labor law compliance and keep your certified manager's certificate in Mays with its expiry date. Each location shows whether someone there holds a valid one, and Mays reminds them and their managers before it expires.
  • Fix punches before payroll. A pay period's Warnings tab lists punches with a missing punch-out, no matching shift, a clock-in outside the location's geofence or an automatic clock-out, so you can correct them before you pay, and a final paycheck isn't held up by a timesheet question. When you fix a missed punch for a worker under 16, Louisiana wants the edit acknowledged in writing by the worker and the manager (La. R.S. 23:213); Mays doesn't collect that, so keep a signed note.

Sources

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

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 Louisiana 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: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Setting up a tip pool? Read Tip pooling for new restaurant owners.