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

*Guides · Mays Team · July 15, 2026*

![The Weekly Overtime report in Mays for the week of July 6, 2026: a line cook's worked hours with the overtime past 40 hours and its estimated cost, and a server's hours with none](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__virginia-restaurant-pay-rules-2026__cover.9e2d3a7f0f.png)

Virginia's minimum wage is $12.77 an hour in 2026, and a law signed this spring sets the next two steps: $13.75 on January 1, 2027 and $15.00 on January 1, 2028 ([Va. Minimum Wage Act](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article1.1/)). Tipped staff can be paid $2.13 an hour under the federal tip credit, which the state honors as long as wages plus tips reach Virginia's minimum ([Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/)). The bigger change for restaurants took effect on July 1, 2026: unpaid wages, overtime and tips included, now carry double damages, or triple when the employer knew, and the state labor department can enforce overtime itself ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)).

This page puts Virginia'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. Virginia's minimum wage is $12.77 an hour ($2.13 cash wage for tipped employees) through December 31, 2026. It rises to $13.75 ($2.13 for tipped employees) on January 1, 2027. We re-read the next minimum wage change on its official source on October 6, 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.*

## Virginia pay rules at a glance

As of July 15, 2026:

| Rule | Virginia |
| --- | --- |
| Minimum wage | **$12.77** an hour, since January 1, 2026 |
| Tipped employees: minimum cash wage | **$2.13** an hour, if you take the tip credit |
| Maximum tip credit | **$10.64** 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 Virginia or federal law |
| Next change | **$13.75** minimum wage and **$2.13** tipped cash wage from **January 1, 2027** |

Sources: [Virginia DOLI, 2026 minimum wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/2025/07/29/virginia-minimum-wage-rate-increasing-effective-january-1-2026/); [Virginia DOLI poster](https://doli.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Virginia-Minimum-Wage-Poster.pdf); [Va. Code § 40.1-29.2](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29.2/); [Virginia DOLI, labor laws](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/virginia-labor-laws/); [Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/).

## Who counts as a tipped employee in Virginia

In Virginia, a tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than **$30** a month in tips ([Virginia DOLI poster](https://doli.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Virginia-Minimum-Wage-Poster.pdf)).

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 Virginia

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 $12.77 minimum wage minus the most you can credit from tips, $10.64 ([Virginia DOLI poster](https://doli.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Virginia-Minimum-Wage-Poster.pdf)).
- **Cash wages plus tips must reach $12.77 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](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **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 × $12.77 = $19.155. After the $10.64 tip credit, you pay at least $8.515 of it in cash wages ([DOL Fact Sheet #15](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **From January 1, 2027,** the minimum wage is $13.75 and the tipped cash wage $2.13 ([Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/)).

You don't have to take the tip credit. If you pay tipped staff the full $12.77 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).

Virginia doesn't set a tipped cash wage of its own. Its Minimum Wage Act counts tips toward the wage by an amount the employer determines, unless the employee shows by clear and convincing evidence that their tips were less ([Va. Minimum Wage Act](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article1.1/)). The labor department applies the federal tip credit: at least $2.13 an hour in cash wages, with tips making up the rest of Virginia's $12.77 ([Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/)).

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

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

- **At least $12.77 an hour for every hour worked**, and at least $13.75 from January 1, 2027 ([Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-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 $12.77 an hour, that's $19.155 ([Va. Code § 40.1-29.2](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29.2/)).
- **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](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/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 Virginia's as of July 15, 2026.

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

Sam is a server paid the $2.13 cash wage. He works 32 hours in each of two weeks: a busy one with $480.00 in tips and a slow one with $220.00.

|  | Busy week | Slow week |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hours worked | 32 | 32 |
| Cash wages (32 × $2.13) | $68.16 | $68.16 |
| Tips received | $480.00 | $220.00 |
| Cash wages + tips | $548.16 | $288.16 |
| Minimum for the week (32 × $12.77) | $408.64 | $408.64 |
| You pay on top | $0.00 | **$120.48** |

In the slow week, $220.00 in tips covers only part of the $340.48 tip credit (32 × $10.64), so you pay the difference by the regular payday: $408.64 − $288.16 = $120.48. 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 Virginia minimum wage, $12.77 an hour. Over five days she works 10, 9, 9, 9 and 8 hours: 45 hours in all.

|  | Hours | Rate | Pay |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Regular hours | 40 | $12.77 | $510.80 |
| Overtime hours (over 40) | 5 | $19.155 (1.5 × $12.77) | $95.78 |
| **Total** | **45** |  | **$606.58** |

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 Virginia

No specific Virginia rule found — federal rules apply ([Va. Minimum Wage Act](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article1.1/)). Under federal law ([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 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](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa)).
- **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)).

**Tips are wages.** Since July 1, 2026, Virginia's wage payment law counts tips among the wages an employer owes, so tips you hold back can be claimed like any unpaid wages ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)).

**Automatic gratuities in your prices.** If you add an automatic or mandatory gratuity, every advertised price that includes pricing information has to disclose its percentage clearly ([Va. Code § 59.1-608](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title59.1/chapter58/)).

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 Virginia

Virginia's overtime law draws the same line as the federal one ([Va. Code § 40.1-29.2](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29.2/)): 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 Virginia 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).

What sets Virginia apart is the remedy. Since July 1, 2026, an employee owed overtime or minimum wage can recover the unpaid wages plus an equal amount as damages, with interest and attorney fees, or three times the unpaid wages if the employer knowingly failed to pay, and a claim can reach back three years ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)). An employer that acted in good faith avoids the extra damages only if it pays everything owed within 14 days of being told ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)). The state labor department now investigates overtime complaints too ([Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/)).

## Breaks in Virginia

- **Meal breaks:** No specific Virginia rule found — federal rules apply ([Virginia DOLI, labor laws](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/virginia-labor-laws/)). 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 Virginia rule found — federal rules apply ([Virginia DOLI, labor laws](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/virginia-labor-laws/)). 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:** A child under 16 can't work more than 5 hours in a row without a lunch period of at least 30 minutes, and a break shorter than 30 minutes doesn't interrupt those 5 hours. There's no separate rule for 16- and 17-year-olds ([Va. Code § 40.1-80.1](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter5/section40.1-80.1/)).

## Other Virginia rules that affect pay

- **Paid sick leave:** No specific Virginia rule found — federal rules apply ([Va. Code § 40.1-33.3](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-33.3/)). 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 is required, not a card for every employee. Who: at least one certified food protection manager per establishment (not every food employee) ([12VAC5-421-55](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title12/agency5/chapter421/section55/)).

### Paid sick leave is coming

A 2026 law gives Virginia employees paid sick leave, starting with larger employers: from July 1, 2027 at employers of 50 or more employees, from January 1, 2028 at 25 or more, and from January 1, 2029 at every employer. Employees earn at least one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year unless you allow more, and it's paid at their regular rate but never less than the minimum wage, with no tip credit ([Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:1 ff.](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article2.1:1/)).

### Paydays, pay stubs and job postings

- **Pay hourly staff at least every two weeks or twice a month**, and pay someone who leaves on the day they would have been paid anyway ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)).
- **A pay stub or online statement every payday** showing hours, rate, gross wages and deductions, kept for at least 3 years since July 1, 2026 ([Va. Code § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/)).
- **Pay ranges in job postings.** Since July 1, 2026, every job posting states the wage or wage range ([Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:12](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-28.7:12/)).

## Local rates in Virginia

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

## How Mays helps

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For Virginia 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, 2027 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. If you take your card processor's fee out of card tips, turn on Labor law compliance and **Deduct the card processing fee from card tips**: Mays deducts only your processor's percentage, split in proportion to each person's card tips, and shows it on the pay period and in the 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. 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.
- **Overtime from the time clock.** Timesheets count overtime by the workweek, and each pay period's Labor Summary splits regular and overtime hours and pay for payroll, so you can check every long week before you pay it.
- **Sick leave when the law reaches you.** Under Scheduling → Settings → **Time off & PTO accrual**, set the Sick category to accrue **Per hour worked**, at least one hour for every 30 worked, and enter 40 hours a year in **Stop earning at** and **Use up to**: Mays stops accrual there and refuses requests past it. Everyone who works hours earns it from approved punches, managers included. Mays doesn't set a separate pay rate for sick hours, so check that against the law.

## Sources

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

- [Code of Virginia, Virginia Minimum Wage Act (§§ 40.1-28.8 to 40.1-28.12)](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article1.1/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Virginia DOLI, payment of wage](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/payment-of-wage/), checked October 6, 2026
- [Code of Virginia § 40.1-29](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, the minimum wage from January 1, 2026](https://doli.virginia.gov/2025/07/29/virginia-minimum-wage-rate-increasing-effective-january-1-2026/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Virginia DOLI, 2026 minimum wage poster](https://doli.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Virginia-Minimum-Wage-Poster.pdf), checked September 24, 2026
- [Code of Virginia § 40.1-29.2](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-29.2/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Virginia DOLI, Virginia labor laws](https://doli.virginia.gov/programs/labor-law/virginia-labor-laws/), 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
- [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
- [Code of Virginia, Title 59.1, Chapter 58 (§ 59.1-608, price disclosure)](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title59.1/chapter58/), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, breaks and meal periods](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks), checked September 24, 2026
- [Code of Virginia § 40.1-80.1](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter5/section40.1-80.1/), checked September 24, 2026
- [US Department of Labor, sick leave](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/sickleave), checked September 24, 2026
- [Code of Virginia § 40.1-33.3](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-33.3/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Virginia Administrative Code, 12VAC5-421-55](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title12/agency5/chapter421/section55/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Code of Virginia, paid sick leave (§§ 40.1-33.6:1 to 40.1-33.6:7)](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title40.1/chapter3/article2.1:1/), checked September 24, 2026
- [Code of Virginia § 40.1-28.7:12](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title40.1/chapter3/section40.1-28.7:12/), 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 Virginia 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/virginia-restaurant-pay-rules-2026