Florida's Minimum Wage Is $15 on September 30, 2026: What Restaurant Payroll Must Change
The tipped cash wage becomes $11.98, overtime at the new minimum is $22.50 in a simple week, and the change applies to hours worked from September 30, with a fictional payroll example and a checklist.
Ryan Speier
Quick answer: on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Florida's minimum wage rises from $14.00 to $15.00 an hour for employees covered by the state minimum wage, which uses the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) definitions of employer and employee. The maximum tip credit stays at $3.02, so the minimum cash wage rises from $10.98 to $11.98 for eligible tipped employees when the employer lawfully claims the full credit. If the credit does not apply, pay the full applicable minimum directly. For a covered employee paid a single hourly rate at the new minimum, with no other pay in the week, overtime is figured on $15.00, which is $22.50 an hour. You also need the new state minimum wage poster once FloridaCommerce publishes it, and an updated tip credit notice for tipped staff before their first shift at the new rate. This is the last scheduled $1.00 step. After it, Florida moves to yearly inflation adjustments that take effect each January 1, starting January 1, 2028.
The numbers that change on September 30
| Item | Through Sept 29, 2026 | From Sept 30, 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida minimum wage | $14.00 | $15.00 | Florida Constitution, Art. X, s. 24(c) |
| Maximum tip credit | $3.02 | $3.02 | Constitution caps it at the 2003 federal credit; FloridaCommerce announcement |
| Tipped cash wage (direct wage) | $10.98 | $11.98 | $15.00 minus $3.02 |
| Overtime rate at the minimum (1.5 times), single rate, no other pay in the week | $21.00 | $22.50 | FLSA, 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1) |
| Tipped overtime cash rate, same simple week (cash wage plus tips only) | $17.98 | $19.48 | $22.50 minus $3.02; the credit cannot be larger on overtime hours |
| Federal minimum and cash wage | $7.25 and $2.13 | unchanged | Florida's higher rate is the one you pay |
Where the $11.98 comes from: the constitution lets employers credit tips only "up to the amount of the allowable FLSA tip credit in 2003." In 2003 the federal minimum wage was $5.15 and the required cash wage was $2.13, so the credit was $3.02. FloridaCommerce's September 30, 2025 announcement uses that same $3.02 to get last year's $10.98, and the U.S. Department of Labor's state table, revised July 1, 2026, lists Florida's maximum tip credit as $3.02. Take $3.02 off $15.00 and the cash wage is $11.98. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association publishes the same figure.
It applies to hours worked, not to your next pay period
The current state poster says $14.00 applies "through September 29, 2026." Hours worked on September 30 and later are paid at the new rates even if the pay period started earlier. September 30 is a Wednesday. If your workweek or pay period straddles that date, enter the change in payroll by date, not by pay period, and check the first pay run that crosses the date line by line.
Overtime in a straddling week is the part to hand to your payroll provider. An employee who worked some hours at $14.00 and some at $15.00 in the same workweek has two rates in one week, and the regular rate used for the overtime premium depends on how that week is treated. Ask the provider to confirm the regular rate and the premium for that week before you approve the run. Do not compute it yourself from a rule you have not confirmed applies.
Tipped employees: three checks beyond the $11.98
1. Tell tipped staff the new numbers before you take the credit
Federal rules (29 CFR 531.59) say an employer is not eligible for the tip credit unless it informed the employee in advance of the credit's provisions. Because the cash wage figure changes on September 30, give each tipped employee updated information before their first shift at $11.98. The rule describes what the employee must be told, not a form, so use this as a checklist of the required content:
Tip credit information each tipped employee must receive (29 CFR 531.59)
[ ] The cash wage the employer will pay: $11.98 per hour from Sept 30, 2026.
[ ] The additional amount claimed as a tip credit: $3.02 per hour.
[ ] That the credit claimed may not exceed the tips the employee actually receives.
[ ] That the employee keeps all tips received, except under a tip pool limited to
employees who customarily and regularly receive tips (only if you operate one).
[ ] That the tip credit does not apply to any employee who has not been informed
of these provisions.
The regulation does not itself require a signature. Keep a dated written record of the information provided and when it was given.
2. Run the weekly shortfall test
The credit only works if tips fill the gap. A server who works 30 hours in a week gets $359.40 in cash wages at $11.98 and needs at least $90.60 in tips (30 hours times $3.02) to reach $15.00 an hour. If a slow week produces only $70.00 in tips, you owe the $20.60 difference. Check this every workweek, not every pay period.
3. Overtime is based on $15.00, not on $11.98
Take a tipped employee whose only pay is the cash wage plus tips, in a week entirely at the new rate, with no service charges, bonuses, commissions or second rate. When you take a tip credit, overtime is calculated on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. The overtime rate is $22.50, and you may subtract the same $3.02 credit, so the cash overtime rate is $19.48. Multiplying the cash wage by 1.5 gives $17.97, which underpays every overtime hour by $1.51. Before September 30 the same mistake produced $16.47 against the correct $17.98, so if your system was set up that way, it has been wrong all year. If the employee also earns service charges or other pay, the regular rate is higher than the minimum wage and the overtime rate changes with it; have payroll confirm it.
The poster
Section 448.109(2), Florida Statutes, requires each employer paying the Florida minimum wage to display the state poster in a conspicuous and accessible place in each establishment. When we checked on the morning of September 20, 2026, the FloridaCommerce minimum wage page still listed the 2025-2026 poster showing $14.00 and $10.98 through September 29, 2026. Check that page again before September 30 and print the new English poster when it appears; Spanish and Creole versions are normally posted alongside it. FloridaCommerce's announcement also reminds employers that federal law separately requires a federal minimum wage notice, which comes from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Official page: floridajobs.org/florida-minimum-wage.
What the increase costs: a fictional example
Palm Street Cafe is an invented 40-seat Florida restaurant with a Monday-to-Sunday workweek. This is a week fully after September 30. Anyone covered whose current pay is below the new floor must move up to it: a cook at $14.50 gets 50 cents, a tipped employee at $11.50 cash gets 48 cents. In this example the affected people happen to be at the old minimum, so each gets a full dollar.
| Role | Hours | Rate before | Rate from Sept 30 | Weekly pay before | Weekly pay after |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 servers (tipped), 30 hours each | 120 | $10.98 cash | $11.98 cash | $1,317.60 | $1,437.60 |
| Dishwasher, 45 hours (5 overtime) | 45 | $14.00 and $21.00 | $15.00 and $22.50 | $665.00 | $712.50 |
| Prep cook | 30 | $14.00 | $15.00 | $420.00 | $450.00 |
| 2 line cooks, already above the minimum | 80 | $17.00 | $17.00 | $1,360.00 | $1,360.00 |
| Total gross wages | 275 | $3,762.60 | $3,960.10 |
The required increase is $197.50 a week: $120.00 for the 120 tipped hours, $40.00 for the dishwasher's 40 straight hours, $7.50 for 5 overtime hours ($1.50 more each), and $30.00 for the prep cook. Some employer costs are computed on wages, such as payroll taxes and workers' compensation premiums, but their rates, wage bases and caps vary, so not every extra dollar of wages adds the same percentage of cost. Using a planning assumption of 12 percent on top of wages, the loaded increase is $221.20 a week, about $958.53 a month (52 weeks divided by 12), or $11,502.40 over 52 weeks. Use your own burden figures; the 12 percent is only an example.
Against fictional net sales of $16,000 a week, $221.20 is about 1.4 percent of current sales. That number sizes the problem; it is not the menu price increase that would cover it. A price change interacts with guest counts, what people order, sales tax and card fees, so work any pricing response through your own sales mix rather than applying 1.4 percent across the menu.
The cooks are the real decision. The minimum wage law does not require you to move a $17.00 cook, though an offer letter, contract, union agreement or other promise might, so check what you have committed to. Either way, the gap between a cook and a dishwasher just narrowed by a dollar. Raising both cooks by $1.00 adds $80.00 in wages, or $89.60 loaded, per week. Decide that on purpose rather than by default. The method for turning these dollars into a labor percentage you can watch weekly is in Labor Cost Math: Start With Dollars, Then Percentages, and the schedule questions this raises are in Should You Close Your Restaurant During Slow Hours?.
Payroll checklist before September 30
Florida $15.00 checklist (complete before the first shift on Sept 30, 2026) [ ] List every covered employee currently paid below $15.00, and every tipped employee below $11.98 cash; each moves up to the new floor. [ ] Enter new rates in payroll and POS effective for hours worked on and after Sept 30, not the next pay period. [ ] Confirm overtime for staff at the new minimum is based on $15.00 ($22.50), and $19.48 cash for tipped staff, in a simple single-rate week. [ ] If the workweek or pay period straddles Sept 30, have the payroll provider confirm the regular rate and overtime premium for that week. [ ] Give every tipped employee the updated tip credit information before the first shift at $11.98; keep a dated written record. [ ] Confirm the weekly cash-plus-tips check reaches $15.00 for each tipped employee. [ ] Check floridajobs.org/florida-minimum-wage for the 2026-2027 poster; post it where staff can see it. [ ] Confirm the separate federal minimum wage notice is posted. [ ] Check offer letters, contracts and any union or other obligations for people above the minimum, then decide in writing what happens to them. [ ] Re-run the labor cost math for the first full week of October and compare it with September. [ ] Review the first pay run that crosses Sept 30 line by line before approving it.
What happens after this year
The constitution says the Department of Commerce calculates an inflation adjustment on September 30, 2027 and each September 30 after that, using the CPI-W for the 12 months before September 1. Each adjusted rate is published and takes effect the following January 1. So there is no September 30, 2027 step; the next change should be on January 1, 2028, at a rate that is not known yet. The tip credit stays capped at $3.02 unless the Legislature reduces it, which the constitution allows but does not require.
Scope and sources
This covers Florida employers and employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which is how the state constitution defines them. It does not cover FLSA exemptions, youth or training wages, service charges and other regular-rate additions, transition-week overtime, union contracts or local government contracts, and it is not legal advice. Figures were read from the sources below on September 20, 2026.
Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24(c): flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution. Florida Statutes s. 448.109 (poster) and s. 448.110 (Florida Minimum Wage Act): leg.state.fl.us, 448.109 and 448.110. FloridaCommerce minimum wage page and its September 30, 2025 announcement (tip credit $3.02): floridajobs.org/florida-minimum-wage. U.S. Department of Labor state tipped wage table, revised July 1, 2026: dol.gov. Tip credit rules, 29 CFR 531.59: ecfr.gov. Overtime, 29 U.S.C. 207: uscode.house.gov. Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association minimum wage page ($11.98): frla.org/minimum-wage.