Guides

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

Mays TeamSeptember 23, 2026
The week of September 14, 2026 on the Mays schedule: a server's evening shifts and a line cook's day shifts, all worked, with the week's scheduled labor cost and an overtime warning for the cook

Ohio's minimum wage lives in the state constitution, which raises it each January by the past year's inflation (Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a). In 2026 it's $11.00 an hour, and $5.50 an hour plus tips for tipped staff (Ohio Commerce, 2026 minimum wage). It applies to businesses with more than $405,000 in annual gross receipts; at a smaller business, and for employees under 16, the floor is the federal $7.25 instead. That receipts line moves with inflation every year too, so check which side of it you're on each January.

This page puts Ohio'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. Ohio's minimum wage is $11.00 an hour ($5.50 cash wage for tipped employees) through December 31, 2026. It changes on January 1, 2027; the new rate had not been published when we checked.

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.

Ohio pay rules at a glance

As of September 23, 2026:

Rule

Ohio

Minimum wage

$11.00 an hour, since January 1, 2026

Tipped employees: minimum cash wage

$5.50 an hour, if you take the tip credit

Maximum tip credit

$5.50 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 Ohio or federal law

Next change

Changes on January 1, 2027 (new rate not published yet)

Sources: Ohio Commerce, 2026 minimum wage; Ohio 2026 minimum wage poster; R.C. 4111.03; US DOL, state meal periods; US DOL, state rest periods; Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a.

Other Ohio rates:

  • businesses with annual gross receipts of $405,000 or less, and employees under 16 (the federal rate): $7.25 an hour

Who counts as a tipped employee in Ohio

In Ohio, a tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips (Ohio 2026 minimum wage poster).

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 Ohio

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 $5.50 an hour in cash wages. That's the $11.00 minimum wage minus the most you can credit from tips, $5.50 (Ohio 2026 minimum wage poster).
  • Cash wages plus tips must reach $11.00 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 × $11.00 = $16.50. After the $5.50 tip credit, you pay at least $11.00 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 $11.00 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).

Ohio's constitution puts the proof on you: you may pay less than the minimum wage, but not less than half of it, only if you can show that the employee's tips plus your wages reach the minimum wage for all hours worked (Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a). It doesn't name a period for that check; the federal rule above works week by week.

What you must pay non-tipped staff in Ohio

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

  • At least $11.00 an hour for every hour worked (Ohio Commerce, 2026 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 $11.00 an hour, that's $16.50 (R.C. 4111.03).
  • 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 Ohio's as of September 23, 2026.

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

Sam is a server paid the $5.50 cash wage. He works 34 hours in each of two weeks: a busy one with $420.00 in tips and a slow one with $120.00.


Busy week

Slow week

Hours worked

34

34

Cash wages (34 × $5.50)

$187.00

$187.00

Tips received

$420.00

$120.00

Cash wages + tips

$607.00

$307.00

Minimum for the week (34 × $11.00)

$374.00

$374.00

You pay on top

$0.00

$67.00

In the slow week, $120.00 in tips covers only part of the $187.00 tip credit (34 × $5.50), so you pay the difference by the regular payday: $374.00 − $307.00 = $67.00. 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 Ohio minimum wage, $11.00 an hour. She works five 9-hour days: 45 hours.


Hours

Rate

Pay

Regular hours

40

$11.00

$440.00

Overtime hours (over 40)

5

$16.50 (1.5 × $11.00)

$82.50

Total

45


$522.50

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 Ohio

No specific Ohio rule found — federal rules apply (Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a). Under federal law (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 Ohio

Ohio's overtime law draws the same line as the federal one (R.C. 4111.03): 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 Ohio 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).

Ohio's overtime law doesn't cover an employer whose annual gross sales are under $150,000 (R.C. 4111.03). Federal law can still reach a business that small, through staff whose work regularly involves commerce across state lines (DOL Fact Sheet #14).

Breaks in Ohio

  • Meal breaks: No specific Ohio 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 Ohio 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: Minors (under 18): rest period of at least 30 minutes after no more than 5 consecutive hours; the rest period need not be counted as hours worked (R.C. 4109.07).

Other Ohio rules that affect pay

  • Paid sick leave: No specific Ohio rule found — federal rules apply (A Better Balance). 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: at least one supervisory employee with manager certification (risk level III and IV operations only) (Ohio Adm. Code 3717-1-02.4).

Paydays, pay stubs and records

  • Paydays twice a month, on set dates. Wages earned in the first half of a month are due by the first day of the next month, and wages for the second half by the fifteenth; paying weekly or daily is allowed too (R.C. 4113.15).
  • A pay statement every payday. Give each employee a written or electronic statement of earnings and deductions; for hourly staff it shows the hours worked, the hourly rate and any hours over 40 in a workweek (R.C. 4113.14).
  • Records for 3 years. Keep each employee's name, address, occupation, pay rate, hours worked each day and every amount paid for at least 3 years after their last day (Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a).

Local rates in Ohio

Ohio law bars cities and counties from requiring private employers to pay a minimum wage other than the state or federal one (R.C. 4111.02). A separate state law leaves scheduling notice, predictive schedules, pay for reporting time, on-call time and split shifts, and fringe benefits such as sick pay to the employer's own policy or its agreements with employees, unless state or federal law expressly provides otherwise (R.C. 4113.85). So the state's $11.00 minimum wage applies everywhere in Ohio, and there's no local rate table for Ohio.

How Mays helps

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For Ohio 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. Mays doesn't check wages against the minimum wage, so update them yourself when the rate changes on January 1, 2027.
  • 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 choose, everyone who worked gets a share, cooks included, so if you take a tip credit, pick only tipped positions, and make sure every punch carries a position: once positions are picked, a punch without one gets no share. When you set it up, turn on Leave managers and admins out of the pool: it's off by default. The tips come from your connected POS at that location (Square) or from tips synced with 7shifts time punches, and each person's share appears in the Tip Payouts report and the payroll export.
  • 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, and overtime is counted by the workweek, with an optional daily threshold for states that have one.
  • Payroll export. A standard CSV or a Gusto-format CSV with regular and overtime hours and pooled tips for each employee.
  • Minors. Mays doesn't track minors' hours or breaks, so build a minor's meal break into their shifts when you schedule them.
  • Pay periods on Ohio's calendar. Under Scheduling → Settings → Pay periods, choose the twice-a-month frequency, which starts a period on the first and the sixteenth of each month, so each period is one of the half months Ohio's payday rule counts.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from these pages, as they read on the date shown. All are official government pages except A Better Balance's list of state paid sick leave laws, used here to confirm that Ohio has no such law.

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 Ohio 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.