Wage-and-hour ground rules for hotel and hospitality employers in Tennessee — minimum wage, tipped-employee rules, overtime, breaks, premium pay, and the hotel-specific obligations that apply on top. General minimum and tipped wage rates were reviewed on October 18, 2026; effective dates and source-specific rule updates appear below.

Rate review: October 18, 2026. Apply the rate for the work date, location, occupation, and employer tier. The linked statutes, rules, and agency guidance control the coverage and exceptions. How we verify →

Minimum wage
$7.25
effective July 24, 2009
Tipped cash minimum
$2.13
max tip credit $5.12
Daily overtime
None
None (40-hr week)
Meal / rest breaks
Yes
meal: Required · rest: Not required

Minimum wage#

The Tennessee minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, effective July 24, 2009. Tennessee has NO state minimum wage law; the federal FLSA $7.25 applies to covered employers (virtually all hotels).

Preemption Tennessee preempts local minimum wage ordinances — cities and counties cannot set their own general wage floors.

Tipped employees & tip pooling#

Tennessee allows a tip credit: employers may pay tipped employees a cash wage of $2.13 and claim up to $5.12 per hour in tips toward the minimum wage. Federal FLSA conditions: more than $30/month in tips, employer notice, tips bring pay to $7.25. No state tipped-wage law; FLSA governs. Tenn. Code §50-2-107 requires covered automatic gratuities/service charges to be paid to the employees who rendered the service, subject to its guest-ranch and segregated-banquet exceptions and private-club carveback.

Tip pooling#

FLSA governs pool eligibility. Tenn. Code §50-2-107 additionally requires covered automatic amounts customarily assumed to be for the serving employees to be distributed to them, subject to the segregated-banquet and guest-ranch exceptions and the private-club carveback described below. (Tenn. Code §50-2-107; 29 U.S.C. §203(m)(2)(B))

See the federal baseline rules in our tip credit and tip pooling briefs — the stricter of federal or Tennessee law controls.

Overtime#

Overtime is due after 40 hours in a workweek. No state overtime law; FLSA 1.5× over 40 applies.

Run the math — including the tipped-overtime trap — with the tipped overtime calculator.

Meal & rest breaks#

Meal breaks: 30-minute unpaid meal/rest break for employees scheduled to work 6 consecutive hours or more, not to be scheduled during the first hour; exception where the workplace environment provides ample opportunity to rest; tipped restaurant-type employees may knowingly waive in writing (2017 amendment). (Tenn. Code §50-2-103(h))

Rest breaks: Not required by Tennessee law.

Scheduling & premium pay#

  • Reporting-time pay: None required by state law.
  • Split-shift premium: None.
  • Spread of hours: None.

Service charges & gratuities#

Tenn. Code §50-2-107 requires an automatically billed amount customarily assumed to be intended for the serving employees to be paid to those employees. Covered amounts must be paid at the close of business on the day received or when the employee is regularly paid; for customer credit bills, payment is due at the close of business on the day collected or on the first regular payday after collection. The employer may not reduce, dock, or diminish that payment to penalize the employee for employment-related actions. (Tenn. Code §50-2-107(a)(1)–(2))

The statute excludes food or beverage bills in banquet, convention, or meeting facilities segregated from the public at large, but includes those facilities on private-club premises. Its separate guest-ranch exception covers guests’ accommodation and activity bills at a facility segregated from the public that offers overnight stays and western-ranching activities, with incidental food service available only to guests and included in the stay price; it may also offer other recreational activities exclusively for guests in conjunction with the ranching activities. A resort’s name alone does not establish this exception. (Tenn. Code §50-2-107(a)(3)(A)–(B))

In Hardy v. Tournament Players Club at Southwind (Tenn. 2017), the Tennessee Supreme Court held that §50-2-107 creates no private right of action and overruled Owens to the contrary; other contract or statutory claims require their own basis. Statutory violations remain subject to public enforcement: subsection (b) makes a violation a Class C misdemeanor, with each failure to pay an employee a separate offense. (Tenn. Code §50-2-107(b); Hardy, 513 S.W.3d 427 (Tenn. 2017)) Background: service charges, auto-gratuities & resort fees.

Pay administration#

  • Pay frequency. At least monthly. For once-monthly pay, §50-2-103(a)(2) requires wages earned and unpaid before the first day of a month to be paid by the fifth day of the succeeding month; piece-work or commission compensation is due by the last day of the succeeding month. Employers paying twice or more monthly use the statute’s twentieth/fifth-day deadlines. Private employers of five or more must establish regular paydays. The piece-work/commission amendment applies to compensation earned on or after July 1, 2026. (Tenn. Code §50-2-103(a); 2026 Pub. Ch. 617, §§1, 3)
  • Final pay. Ordinary final wages are due by the next regular payday after separation or 21 days after separation, whichever occurs later. For piece-work or commission employees, compensation earned on or after July 1, 2026 is due by the last day of the succeeding month following separation. An employer cannot secure an exemption from this subsection. (Tenn. Code §50-2-103(g); 2026 Pub. Ch. 617, §§2–3)
  • Wage statements: No general pay-stub statute; FLSA recordkeeping applies. Deductions require employee authorization.
  • Exempt salary floor: $684.00/week (federal) — Federal $684/week applies.
  • Lodging credit: FLSA §3(m) standards apply (reasonable cost, voluntary acceptance, records) — relevant to Gatlinburg/Smoky Mountain resort housing.

Tenn. Code §50-2-112 (2013) preempts local minimum wages and local wage mandates on private employers — Nashville/Memphis living-wage rules reach only government employees/contractors. The §50-2-107 service-charge pass-through and the 6-hour meal-break rule are Tennessee's two hotel-specific compliance items.

Sources and further reading#

Government agencies and official publishers appear first. Independently hosted legal texts and secondary reporting are identified separately below.

Official sources

Additional reporting and commentary

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