Minneapolis restaurant pay rules (2026): wages, tips, scheduling and sick leave

Minneapolis pays more than Minnesota and counts tips for nothing. The city's minimum wage is $16.37 an hour for every employer, whatever its size or the worker's age, against the state's $11.41 (Minneapolis), and no tips or gratuities count toward it: a server's hourly pay starts at the same $16.37 as the dishwasher's. Sick and safe time starts on day one, and Minnesota's own law adds meal and rest breaks and a ban on required tip pools.

This page puts what a restaurant or café in Minneapolis owes in one place: the city's own rules first, then the Minnesota and federal rules that apply in Minneapolis as everywhere else in the state, two example weeks with the math shown, and what Mays does with each. Every figure links to the official page it comes from.

Updated October 5, 2026: these figures are still current. Minneapolis's minimum wage is $16.37 an hour, and tipped employees get the same through December 31, 2026. It rises to $17.02, for tipped employees too, on January 1, 2027 (Minneapolis).

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.

Minneapolis pay rules at a glance

As of June 29, 2026:

Sources: Minneapolis; US DOL, overtime; Minneapolis sick and safe time.

Who Minneapolis's rate covers: all employers regardless of size or employee age; employees performing at least 2 hours of work in a calendar week within Minneapolis.

Minneapolis vs. Minnesota: what the city changes

Where Minneapolis sets a rule of its own, it applies on top of Minnesota's, and an employer follows whichever gives the employee more. Here are the two side by side:

Our data has no Minneapolis rule of its own on overtime, breaks, tip pools or food handler training, so the Minnesota and federal rules below apply in Minneapolis as they do across the state. For Minnesota's rules in full, with their own worked examples, see Minnesota restaurant pay rules (2026).

What you must pay tipped staff in Minneapolis

Minneapolis doesn't allow a tip credit (Minneapolis), so servers, bartenders and baristas who get tips must be paid at least the full $16.37 an hour in wages, and their tips are all theirs, on top. There's no tipped cash wage and no weekly tip make-up to calculate.

Minnesota bans a tip credit statewide too (MN DLI, minimum wage), so there is no tipped wage anywhere in the state; what Minneapolis adds is the higher rate.

What you must pay non-tipped staff in Minneapolis

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

• At least $16.37 an hour for every hour worked (Minneapolis). No tip credit applies.
• Overtime is at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. At $16.37 an hour, that's $24.555 (US DOL, overtime).

Worked examples (made-up numbers)

The names, hours and tips below are made up. The rates are the ones that apply in Minneapolis as of June 29, 2026.

A server's week

Sam is a server in Minneapolis. For a 30-hour week you pay him at least 30 × $16.37 = $491.10 in wages, before tips. His tips are all on top, whatever they come to; there's no make-up to calculate.

A cook's week with overtime

Ana is a line cook in Minneapolis paid the minimum wage, $16.37 an hour. She works five 9-hour days: 45 hours.

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.

Scheduling rules in Minneapolis

We found no Minneapolis or Minnesota fair workweek law in our data: nothing here makes you post schedules a set number of days ahead or pay a premium for changing them. Breaks and overtime still shape the schedule (see below).

Paid sick leave in Minneapolis

Minneapolis has a paid sick leave ordinance of its own (Minneapolis sick and safe time):

• How it's earned: 1 hour per 30 hours worked.
• Who it covers: employees working in Minneapolis, including part-time and temporary; accrual starts on day one.
• What else it requires: Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time Ordinance. Employers may cap accrual at 48 hours a year and the bank at 80 hours. Year-end options: carry over, pay out and front-load 48, or reset and front-load 80. No payout at termination. Pay stubs must show hours available and used. The city ordinance mirrors the 2024 Minnesota statewide ESST.

Minnesota's paid sick leave law applies in Minneapolis too (MN DLI, sick and safe time): Earned sick and safe time: an employee earns 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year unless the employer agrees to more, and it's paid at the same base rate they earn when working. Minneapolis and Saint Paul have their own ordinances, and employers follow the requirements most favorable to their employees. For each term, how fast leave is earned, how much can be used, how much carries over and how soon a new hire can use it, follow whichever of the two is more generous.

Tip pools, overtime and breaks in Minneapolis

These are Minnesota's rules, with the federal ones where Minnesota sets none, and they apply in Minneapolis as they do across the state:

• Tip pools: Minnesota bans tip pools the employer requires. Employees may share tips only voluntarily, by an agreement they make among themselves without the employer’s coercion or participation; at their request, the employer may hold the shared tips and pay them out. The full amount of a tip paid by card or other electronic payment goes to the employee no later than the next scheduled pay period. There is no tip credit (Minn. Stat. § 177.24). Under federal law, the business, its managers and supervisors never keep employees' tips, and with a tip credit a pool you require can include only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips (US DOL, tips).
• Service charges: An obligatory charge that a customer might reasonably see as payment for personal service (service charge, tip, gratuity, surcharge) is a gratuity belonging to the employee, unless the employer gives clear and conspicuous notice that it is not the employee’s property: bold type on the menu, a placard, the front of the bill or other printed material, at least 18-pt on a placard or 9-pt on other notices (Minn. Stat. § 177.24).
• Overtime: Time and a half for hours over 48 in a workweek (Minn. Stat. 177.25), unless the employee is exempt under section 177.23, subdivision 7. Holiday, vacation and sick hours don't count toward the 48. Employers the federal Fair Labor Standards Act covers, such as businesses with gross annual sales of more than $500,000, must pay overtime for all hours over 40 in a workweek (MN DLI, overtime). The federal rule, time and a half after 40 hours, still binds an employer it covers (US DOL, overtime).
• Meal breaks: A meal break of at least 30 minutes for an employee working 6 or more consecutive hours; the law doesn't require a second one on a long shift. The employer can require staff to stay on the premises during breaks. A missed break is owed at the employee's regular rate plus an equal amount as damages, and a collective bargaining agreement can set different meal periods (Minn. Stat. § 177.254).
• Rest breaks: A rest break of at least 15 minutes, or enough time to use the nearest convenient restroom if that's longer, within each 4 consecutive hours of work; a break after the fourth hour doesn't count. A break shorter than 20 minutes is paid time. A missed break is owed at the employee's regular rate plus an equal amount as damages, and a collective bargaining agreement can set different rest breaks (Minn. Stat. § 177.253).
• Minors' breaks: No separate Minnesota rule for minors; the adult rules above apply to them too (Minn. Stat. § 181A.04).

Other rules that affect pay in Minneapolis

• Food handler training: A certified food protection manager is required, not a card for every employee. Who: at least one certified food protection manager per establishment (not every food employee) (MDH, food manager requirement).

How Mays handles this

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For a restaurant in Minneapolis, that means:

• The minimum wage for the address. Turn on Labor law compliance and Mays reads each location's minimum wage from its address: a location whose city is Minneapolis gets Minneapolis's $16.37. It warns you when a position's default wage, someone's hourly wage or a punch is below it, and never blocks the save. It switches to the new rate on January 1, 2027 by itself, and admins get a reminder 30 and 7 days before, listing the wages below the new rate.
• Paid sick leave per location. With Labor law compliance on, the Sick category under Scheduling → Settings → Time off & PTO accrual shows the paid sick leave law at each location's address, and Apply these rules fills in its figures, starting with at least one hour for every 30 worked (Minneapolis sick and safe time). Where Minneapolis's and Minnesota's figures differ, it takes the more generous one. If the location's address doesn't name Minneapolis, pick Minneapolis under Where this location is. Everyone who works hours earns it from approved punches, managers included, and a figure Mays doesn't have is left open for you to fill in from the official page.
• Overtime by the address. Staff clock in on their phone, a shared kiosk or an NFC tag, and 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 Minnesota sets too, which Mays reads from the location's address; the schedule's labor cost, the reports and the pay summary all include it.
• A tip pool per location. Split pooled tips by hours worked, equally or by FTAR score, and choose which positions receive. Leave managers and admins out of the pool is on by default, so leave it on. Minnesota doesn't allow taking card processing fees out of tips, so leave Deduct the card processing fee from card tips off: with Labor law compliance on, the card warns you if it's on. Each person's share appears in the Tip Payouts report and the payroll export.
• 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.

Sources

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

• City of Minneapolis, minimum wage, checked October 5, 2026
• US Department of Labor, overtime pay, checked September 24, 2026
• City of Minneapolis, sick and safe time, checked October 5, 2026
• Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, minimum wage, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota DLI, earned sick and safe time, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota Statutes § 177.24, checked September 24, 2026
• US Department of Labor, tips under the FLSA, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota DLI, overtime, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota Statutes § 177.254, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota Statutes § 177.253, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota Statutes § 181A.04, checked September 24, 2026
• Minnesota Department of Health, certified food protection manager requirements, 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 Minneapolis payroll on the right numbers

Give each location its Minneapolis address, turn on Labor law compliance so the minimum wage, overtime and sick leave rules follow it, and let the time clock do the counting. Then payroll is an export, not an evening.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Running more than one city? Each location reads its own rules.