Restaurant tips

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal court in Texas denied the Restaurant Law Center and Texas Restaurant Association’s emergency motion for a preliminary injunction to block a U.S. Department of Labor regulation relating to wages for employees who receive tips. The rule clarifies that a tip credit — which allows restaurant employers to reduce an employee’s wages if their wages plus tips amount to minimum wage — is “only available for hours spent working in the tipped occupation” and added a 30-minute limitation on “non-tipped work allowable when taking the tip credit.”