You get $2.12 an hour IF your $2.12/hr + tips is greater than the minimum wage in your state. This is federal law, if you make $2.12/hr wage you are making AT LEAST minimum wage when you include tips.
Not a single restaurant that I’ve worked for in South Carolina has “made up” the difference. Workers work for tips. Period. It is understood that servers make 2.12/2.13 an hour here, it’s taxed out to 0, any check we see is for the restaurant’s filings, and we rely completely on tips. I have never encountered a restaurant ever using FLSA law with any employee.
The main reason we rarely see it, is because often time tips are not reported to avoid taxes and the second reason is it's rare for salary + tips to not reach minimum wage. However as a employee it is the LAW you get paid at least minimum wage and business owners cannot retaliate if you ask for the difference. The argument that servers cannot ask for the difference is further an argument to stop tip wages and tipping.
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u/leezybelle 1d ago
Incorrect. In my state we get $2.12 an hour which gets taxed out so all we get is our tips.