PURPOSE: This rule establishes the minimum wage rates to be paid to certain qualifying employees and describes generally the allowance of gratuities as a credit toward payment of the minimum wage.

1. (1) Effective August 28, 1990 employers who employ individuals who are covered under the Missouri minimum wage law are required to pay to each such individual wages at the same rate as established as the federal minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Missouri minimum wage shall be as follows:

   1. (A) Effective August 28, 1990 the minimum wage shall be not less than three dollars and eighty cents ($3.80) an hour; and
   2. (B) Effective April 1, 1991 the minimum wage shall be not less than four dollars and twenty-five cents ($4.25) an hour.

2. (2) Learners and apprentices shall be paid the same rate as established under the provisions of federal law as the federal subminimum wage applicable to new workers. The Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1989 to the FLSA established training wages for certain eligible workers. These rates, which shall be the subminimum wage rates applicable to learners and apprentices, are as follows:

   1. (A) Effective August 28, 1990 the learner and apprentice rate shall be not less than three dollars and thirty-five cents ($3.35) an hour; and
   2. (B) Effective April 1, 1991 the learner and apprentice rate shall be not less than eightyfive percent (85%) of the federal minimum wage of four dollars and twenty-five cents ($4.25) per hour, which shall be $3.6125 per hour (if rounded, must be rounded up to three dollars and sixty-two cents ($3.62) per hour).
3. (3) An individual whose earning capacity is impaired by physical or mental deficiency, and who is unable to maintain a production level within the limits required of those employees who are receiving minimum or subminimum wages set forth in section (1) or
4. (2) of this rule, may be paid at a minimum wage as established by the director which may be lower than the minimum and subminimum wage rates set forth in this rule. Employment of individuals at these lower wage rates shall be permitted as provided under 8 CSR 30-4.040.
5. (4) Tipped employees shall receive at least the applicable minimum wages as set forth in this rule, except that the employer may claim gratuities as a credit toward the payment of the required minimum wage. The maximum amount of gratuities that the employer can claim as a credit is fifty percent (50%) of the applicable minimum wage rate. For example, if after April 1, 1991 a tipped employee is entitled to a minimum wage of three dollars and sixty-two cents ($3.62) an hour and receives in one (1) day the equivalent of two dollars ($2) per hour in tips, the employer can claim up to fifty percent (50%) of the minimum wage one dollar and eighty-one cents ($1.81) as a tip credit, and shall only be required to pay the employee one dollar and eighty-one cents ($1.81) per hour in wages for that day. In no event shall the amount of wages and gratuities equal less than the applicable minimum wage, with the difference between the gratuities and the minimum wage being paid by the employer.

AUTHORITY: sections 290.512, 290.515 and 290.517, RSMo. Supp. 1990.* Original rule filed July 22, 1992, effective Feb. 26, 1993. *Original authority 1990.