Every figure and rule on this site traces to a primary source. This page is the map of those sources — the statutes, regulations, and codes that actually govern a hotel's pay practices — organized so you can find the operative text fast and know what kind of question each source can answer. It is the substantive complement to the methodology page: methodology explains how the site decides what to trust; this page shows where the law lives.
At a glance#
- Match the source to the question. A statute creates the rule; a regulation supplies the operating detail; sub-regulatory guidance shows the enforcement posture and persuades only as far as it is well-reasoned (see Skidmore); case law tells you how the text has been construed.
- The FLSA core for hotels is a short list of sections: §3(m) (tips), §3(t) (tipped employee), §7 (overtime and the regular rate), §13(a)(1) (the white-collar exemptions), and §§16(b)–(c) (remedies).
- The regulations do the daily work: 29 CFR Part 531 (tips and credits), Part 541 (exemptions), Part 778 (the regular rate), and Part 785 (hours worked).
- Tips have a second body of law — the Internal Revenue Code (§§45B, 3121(q), 6053) and Treasury guidance (Rev. Rul. 2012-18, TD 10044) — that runs parallel to the FLSA.
- State codes override upward: California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, and Illinois each have their own statutes and wage orders that set the binding floor wherever they are stricter.
How federal wage law is built#
Federal wage law is a three-layer stack, and knowing which layer you are reading tells you how much weight the text carries. At the top is the statute — the Fair Labor Standards Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. §§201–219, as amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act. The statute creates the obligations (pay the minimum wage, pay overtime, keep records) but often states them as principles rather than operating rules. Below it sit the regulations the DOL issues to implement the statute, codified in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations; these have the force of law when validly promulgated and supply the detail the statute omits — what counts toward the regular rate, which duties make an employee exempt, how to compute the tip credit. At the bottom is sub-regulatory guidance — fact sheets, opinion letters, the Field Operations Handbook — which binds no court and, after Loper Bright, persuades only to the extent it is thorough and well-reasoned. A hotel reading any source should ask which layer it is and therefore what it can prove. The DOL guidance directory covers the bottom layer in depth; this page maps the top two, plus the parallel tax authorities and the state codes.
FLSA sections that matter in a hotel#
The Act is long, but a hotel's exposure concentrates in a handful of sections. These are the ones worth knowing by number.
| Section | What it does | Hotel relevance |
|---|---|---|
| §3(m) | Defines "wage" and authorizes the tip credit and the lodging/meal credit | The basis for paying a tipped cash wage and for any §3(m) lodging credit at a seasonal property (tip credit) |
| §3(m)(2)(B) | Bars employers, managers, and supervisors from keeping any tips (2018 amendment) | The hard line on tip-pool composition — no manager in any pool (tip pooling) |
| §3(t) | Defines "tipped employee" — more than $30/month in tips | The threshold question for every tipped classification |
| §6 | Sets the minimum wage | The federal floor beneath every state and local rate (minimum wage) |
| §7 | Requires overtime at 1.5× the regular rate over 40 hours/week, and defines the regular rate | The whole of overtime exposure, including service-charge and bonus inclusion (regular rate) |
| §7(e) | Lists what is included in and excluded from the regular rate | Decides whether a bonus, shift differential, or service charge inflates overtime |
| §7(i) | The retail/service commission-employee overtime exemption | The framework for hotel spa and sales commission plans (exemptions) |
| §11(c) | Requires employers to keep prescribed records | The statutory hook for Part 516 — and for the Mt. Clemens inference when records fail (recordkeeping) |
| §13(a)(1) | Exempts bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees | The source of every duties-test classification question for managers |
| §§16(b)–(c) | Private right of action (16(b)) and DOL-supervised settlement (16(c)) | The remedy and the only way to extinguish a claim by release (enforcement) |
| P-to-P §§255, 259, 260 | Limitations period and the good-faith defenses | 2 vs. 3 years, and whether liquidated damages double the bill (good-faith defense) |
The 29 CFR shelf#
If the statute creates the obligation, the regulations are where a controller or counsel actually works. Each part below answers a different operating question — and each contains a trap hotels reliably hit.
| Part | What it governs | The hotel trap inside it | Covered in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 516 | Recordkeeping — what must be kept and for how long | §516.28 tipped-employee records are the ones hotels miss; missing records flip the burden of proof | Recordkeeping |
| 531 | Wages, tips, and the §3(m) credits (esp. .35 free-and-clear, .50–.60 tip credit) | The weekly tip-credit true-up and the notice requirement in §531.59(b) | Tip credit |
| 541 | The white-collar exemptions — duties tests and the salary-basis rule | Salary basis fails on day-rate pay no matter the amount (Helix) | Exemptions |
| 778 | Overtime compensation and the regular rate in detail | Nondiscretionary bonuses and service-charge shares must be folded into the regular rate | Regular rate |
| 785 | Hours worked — waiting, on-call, meal periods, training, travel | §785.22 sleep time, §785.27 training, §785.14–.17 on-call: each a compensable-time question | Off-the-clock |
| 786 | Miscellaneous exemptions, including some recreational establishments | The §13(a)(3) seasonal-amusement test for resort recreation operations | Seasonal resorts |
| 790 | Interpretive bulletin on the Portal-to-Portal Act | §790.6 defines the continuous workday — the clock runs from first to last principal activity | Off-the-clock |
Tip-tax authorities: the parallel code#
Tips are governed twice — once by the FLSA (whose tip rules are above) and once by the tax code, which most operators discover only at a payroll audit. The tax authorities are independent of the wage authorities and frequently reach the opposite result on the same dollar (a distributed service charge is wages for both, but a voluntary tip is a "tip" for the FLSA and also drives a tax credit). The provisions to know:
| Authority | What it does | Hotel relevance |
|---|---|---|
| IRC §45B | Employer credit for the FICA paid on reported tips above the minimum-wage offset | Now extended to hotel spa/beauty services; claimed on Form 8846 (tip tax) |
| IRC §3121(q) | Authorizes the IRS to assess the employer FICA share on unreported tips | The Notice and Demand that follows underreported banquet/valet tips (Fior d'Italia) |
| IRC §6053 | Requires employees to report monthly tips to the employer | The reporting duty (historically Form 4070) the whole structure rests on |
| Rev. Rul. 2012-18 | Draws the tip vs. service-charge line for tax | A mandatory auto-gratuity is a service charge — wages, no §45B credit, not OBBBA-qualified (service charges) |
| TD 10044 | Treasury's final tipped-occupation regulations (2026) | Confirms hotel roles (TTOC 301–304) qualify for the OBBBA tips deduction |
| Form 8027 | Annual return for large food/beverage establishments; tip allocation | Hotel restaurants and banquet operations routinely cross the 10-employee threshold |
State codes for the major hotel states#
For most hotels the binding rule is not federal — it is the stricter state law on top. The five states below carry the heaviest hotel wage litigation, and each works from its own statutes and wage orders. Every state guide lists the operative sources for its figures; this is the orientation.
- California. The Labor Code plus the IWC Wage Order 5 (Public Housekeeping) govern hotels: §§201–204 (timing and final pay), §226 (wage statements), §226.2 (piece-rate housekeeping), §226.7 and §512 (meal/rest), §351 (tips are the employee's property), §§510–512 and §511 (daily overtime and the alternative workweek), §§551–552 (day of rest), §1194 (fee-shifting), and §2698 et seq. (PAGA). When the Labor Code is silent, the applicable wage order usually answers.
- New York. Labor Law §191 (weekly pay for manual workers), §193 (deductions), §196-d (the gratuity/service-charge rule), and §198 (remedies), all overlaid by the Hospitality Industry Wage Order, 12 NYCRR Part 146 — the single most important text for a New York hotel, setting tipped wages, written-notice requirements, the surviving 80/20 rule, and spread-of-hours pay.
- Massachusetts. The Wage Act, M.G.L. c.149 §148 (timely payment) and §150 (the mandatory treble-damages remedy), plus §152A (the Tips Act). The harshest remedy regime in the country (Reuter).
- Washington. RCW 49.46 (the Minimum Wage Act, which allows no tip credit) and RCW 49.52 (wage-rebate/willful-withholding penalties, with double damages).
- Illinois. 820 ILCS 105 (the Minimum Wage Law, capping the tip credit at 40%), with the Chicago and Cook County ordinances layered on top.
Beyond these, the patterns worth tracking: New Jersey and Hawaii apply the ABC test to classification; the District of Columbia, Colorado, and Oregon run their own indexed-wage and scheduling regimes; and Nevada is a no-tip-credit, two-tier-minimum state. The compliance calendar tracks when each changes.
How to read a citation#
The shorthand is consistent once decoded. A statute cite like "29 U.S.C. §207" is title, code, section. A regulation like "29 CFR 531.59(b)" is title, code of regulations, part.section, subsection. A case like "Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, 11 Cal.5th 858 (2021)" is parties, volume, reporter, page, year — here the California Supreme Court's official reports. State material varies: "Cal. Lab. Code §226" is a code section; "12 NYCRR Part 146" is a title of the New York compilation of codes, rules and regulations. When the site states a figure, it cites to the most authoritative layer that fixes it — the statute or regulation for a rule, the agency rate notice for a current CPI-indexed dollar amount — per the methodology.
Key authorities#
- Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§201–219; Portal-to-Portal Act, 29 U.S.C. §§251–262.
- 29 CFR Parts 516, 531, 541, 778, 785, 786, 790.
- IRC §§45B, 3121(q), 6053; Rev. Rul. 2012-18; TD 10044; Forms 8027, 8846.
- Cal. Lab. Code (cited sections) & IWC Wage Order 5; N.Y. Lab. Law §§191, 193, 196-d, 198 & 12 NYCRR Part 146; M.G.L. c.149 §§148, 150, 152A; RCW 49.46, 49.52; 820 ILCS 105.
- Holdings construing these authorities are collected in the case digest; defined terms in the glossary.