Minimum Wage and Tips
RSA 279:21 — the federal minimum, and for tipped workers a base of at least 45 percent of it
No employer may pay an hourly rate lower than the federal minimum wage, as amended, unless a statute provides otherwise.
Who handles this in New Hampshire: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the New Hampshire directory.
Tipped employees of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn, cabin or ballroom who regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips directly from customers receive a base rate from the employer of not less than 45 percent of the minimum wage, and the employer makes up the difference if tips and base together fall short of it.
Tips belong to the worker. Tips are wages and the property of the employee who receives them, unless the employee voluntarily, without coercion from the employer, joins a tip pooling or sharing arrangement.
Sources for this section (2)
- RSA 279:21 — Minimum Hourly Rate
- RSA 279:26-b — Tip Pooling and Sharing
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Hampshire attorney.