Florida's Minimum Wage Hits $15

Florida's minimum wage is $15/hr as of September 30, 2026. The tipped cash wage is $11.98. If your next payroll run includes hours worked on or after that date, the new rates must apply. This is the last step in the annual schedule that started at $10 in 2021.

If your payroll system still shows $14/$10.98, fix it before you process hours.

The tip credit stays at $3.02

That number is a cap set by the state constitution at the 2003 federal level. Lawmakers can reduce the credit by statute, but it can't rise without a new amendment. You pay $11.98/hr in cash wages to tipped employees, and if their tips don't bring them to $15 in any given workweek, you owe the difference, per employee, per workweek. You can't average across workweeks or offset one employee's shortfall with another's excess tips. Check for shortfalls before each payroll run closes.

Check your tip pool too. If you take the credit, the pool can include only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips. If you pay the full $15 in cash and take no credit, federal rules allow non-tipped staff such as cooks to join. Either way, managers and supervisors cannot keep employees' pooled tips.

A September 2026 WHD opinion letter uses actual duties, not job titles, to decide who meets the management test. A supervisor who meets that test cannot take pooled tips while tending bar. An employee whose primary duty is bartending or serving rather than management does not meet that duties test. Managers may keep tips customers give them for service they directly and solely provide. The letter does not decide the case of a bartender who sometimes works management shifts.

One Florida restaurant chain paid $314,553 in back wages in a case where the DOL found it redirecting gratuities to the business. A Tampa brewery paid $70,575 in a case where managers were included in the pool.

Wage claims and federal investigations

Employees can bring a claim for unpaid Florida minimum wages under F.S. 448.110, after giving the employer written notice and 15 calendar days to resolve it. The state Attorney General can also bring a civil enforcement action. The federal Wage and Hour Division separately enforces federal wage law.

Duty Room's June 2026 extract of WHD data records $57.5 million in back wages owed across 6,916 Florida hospitality investigations. Where a case finds back wages, the median amount is about $3,100. Overtime violations account for 58% of those back wages.

Update payroll to $15.00 base and $11.98 tipped for all Florida hours. If you operate across states, confirm the Florida rate applies only to Florida hours worked.

Replace your minimum wage poster with the current $15 notice in a conspicuous, accessible place at each establishment, as F.S. 448.109 requires. The Florida Department of Commerce's current English poster confirms $15/$11.98 through December 31, 2027.

The annual cycle starts now

The $1 annual increases are done, but the rate isn't frozen. Under F.S. 448.110, the CPI measurement uses the 12 months before each September 1. The state publishes the adjusted rate by October 15 and it takes effect the following January 1. The first CPI-adjusted rate takes effect January 1, 2028. Add an October 2027 calendar check, then repeat it each year. Our full briefing covers the CPI formula, enforcement data, and tip credit rules.