Delaware minimum wage and tip laws (2026)

The minimum wage in Delaware is $15.00 an hour.

Minimum wage

$15.00

For a 40-hour week

$600.00

Source: 19 Del. C. 902(a) ($15.00 effective 1/1/2025; no further scheduled increase) Read the rule

Employers in Delaware can pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $2.23 an hour and count up to $12.77 an hour of tips toward the $15.00 minimum. That is called a tip credit. Your cash wage plus the tips you keep must reach at least $15.00 for every hour in each workweek. If they do not, your employer has to make up the difference.

Tips can count toward the wage

Yes

Tipped cash wage

$2.23

Maximum tip credit

$12.77

Employer must tell you first

Yes

Source: 19 Del. C. 902(b) and (c): tipped employees in occupations that customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips may be paid a cash wage of not less than $2.23 per hour; cash wage plus tips must reach the full minimum wage. Read the rule

• Hours past 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate.

Overtime rate at minimum wage

$22.50

Overtime cash rate with a tip credit

$9.73

For tipped workers, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At $15.00, that is $22.50 an hour, so with the full tip credit the overtime cash rate cannot be less than $9.73.

Source: 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1); 29 CFR 778.107; Fact Sheet #15 (overtime for tipped employees is computed on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage) Read the rule

Meal break

30 minutes when you work more than 7.5 hours

Rest break

Not required

Extra pay for a missed break

No

Delaware requires these breaks but does not set a fixed premium, like an extra hour of pay, when one is missed. If you work through a meal break, that time has to be paid.

Source: 19 Del. C. 707(a): an unpaid meal break of at least 30 consecutive minutes for employees who work 7.5 or more consecutive hours, given after the first 2 hours and before the last 2 hours of work. Exemptions may apply where fewer than 5 employees are on a shift at one location or only one employee can perform the position. No rest break requirement; no premium for a missed meal break. Read the rule

Taxes and deductions you agreed to, like health insurance, are normal. These are the ones that cause trouble in restaurants and bars, and what Delaware allows:

Required uniforms

Only if pay stays above minimum

Register or cash shortages

Not allowed

Broken dishes or equipment

Not allowed

Card processing fee on card tips

Only if pay stays above minimum

Customers who walk out

Not allowed

"Only if pay stays above minimum" means the deduction cannot take your pay for the week below minimum wage. For a worker paid a tipped cash wage, that usually leaves no room for a uniform, shortage, breakage or walkout deduction. A card fee works differently: only the fee on the card tip itself, taken from that tip.

Source: 19 Del. C. 1107 (no withholding except as required by law, for medical care without benefit to the employer, or with the employee's signed authorization for a lawful purpose benefiting the employee); Delaware DOL Rules Regulating Deductions from Wages (19 DE Admin. Code 1328): cash and inventory shortages, including shortages from failure to follow credit card, check cashing or accounts receivable procedures, may not be deducted in any case (2.1, 2.2); losses from damage to employer or customer property may not be deducted in any case (4.0). Read the rule

Managers and owners can share in the pool

No

Kitchen staff can share when a tip credit is taken

No

Kitchen staff can share when no tip credit is taken

Yes

In most states, an employer can require tipped staff to pool tips with others who serve customers, like bussers, runners and bartenders. Managers, supervisors and owners can never take a share. Under federal law, cooks and dishwashers can share only when the employer takes no tip credit, and some states do not allow it at all. The answers above show the rule in Delaware.

Source: 19 Del. C. 902(d): an employer may require tip pooling only where more than one direct service employee serves the same customer, and the required pool may not exceed 15% of the primary direct service employee's gratuities; the employer shall not under any circumstances receive any portion of employees' gratuities. Read the rule

Under federal law, a mandatory service charge, like an automatic 20% on large parties, is not a tip. It belongs to the business unless it is paid out, and when it is paid to you it counts as wages. It cannot be used to cover the tip credit, and it should not be reported as tips on your stub. Some states give the charge to the staff when customers were not clearly told it is not a tip, so if a charge was presented as a gratuity, it is worth asking where it went.

Source: 19 Del. C. 902(c): a service charge is the property of the primary direct service employee(s) unless the customer is given clear and conspicuous notice (bold print on the bill or a placard) that part of the charge goes to management. Read the rule

Delaware does not require paid sick leave statewide. Some employers offer it anyway, and in a few places a city or county law requires it.

Source: No federal paid sick leave requirement for private employers.

Some parts of Delaware law depend on things a pay stub does not show. A TruWage result for Delaware can be off if any of these apply to you:

• If a mandatory service charge was added to your checks and customers were not clearly told on the bill or a sign that part of it goes to management, the whole charge belongs to the servers. This check cannot tell whether that was done.
• If your employer requires you to pool tips, Delaware allows that only when more than one server handles the same customer and caps your required share at 15 percent of your tips. This check does not measure that.

Start with your manager or payroll and show them the numbers. Many mistakes get fixed that way. If it is not fixed, you can file a wage claim. It is free and you do not need a lawyer.

Agency

Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs, Office of Labor Law Enforcement (Wage and Hour)

Phone

302-761-8200

Phone option 3, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. File the Wage Payment Claim Form (PDF linked from the page) or use the online complaint link. Email Wages@delaware.gov.

How to file a wage claim

You can also file with the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, which enforces federal wage law, at 1-866-487-9243. They take complaints in many languages and keep the name of the person complaining confidential.