What Is Top-Up (Make-Up Pay)? (2026)
Top-up pay — the Labor Department calls it making up the difference — is the rule that keeps the tip credit system from becoming a gamble. When a slow workweek leaves your cash wage plus tips below the full minimum wage, your employer must pay the shortfall on your check. It is a legal obligation that runs automatically, not a favor you have to ask for, and it is the most frequently forgotten rule in tipped pay.
By the TippedPay editorial team · Updated $1
Key numbers at a glance
| 25-hour week, $120 tips | Cash wages | Weekly floor | Top-up owed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal ($2.13 / $7.25) | $53.25 | $181.25 | $8.00 |
| Ohio ($5.50 / $11.00) | $137.50 | $275.00 | $17.50 |
| Florida ($10.98 / $14.00) | $274.50 | $350.00 | $0 — floor met in cash |
| Nebraska ($2.13 / $15.00) | $53.25 | $375.00 | $201.75 |
What Top-up (make-up pay) means
The mechanics are simple arithmetic wrapped in one strict condition. Your employer pays the cash wage — $2.13 federally — and takes a tip credit for the rest of the minimum, up to $5.12. That only works if tips actually arrive. So for every workweek, the employer compares cash wages plus the tips you retained against the full minimum times your hours. Shortfall? The difference is make-up pay, owed on that week's check, per the DOL tipped employee fact sheet.
The condition is the workweek unit. Federally the comparison is computed per workweek, and there is no averaging across weeks — a $600 Tuesday-to-Saturday stretch cannot rescue the previous week's $100 dud. Each week closes its own books. Within a week, the federal method uses the weekly total of cash wage plus retained tips against the weekly minimum; some states run stricter per-shift checks, so verify with your state labor department if you suspect per-shift violations.
Two boundaries matter. First, only tips you keep count: amounts passed through a valid tip pool or a required tip-out to eligible coworkers generally do not count toward your minimum, so a heavy tip-out week can trigger a top-up even when gross tips looked fine. Second, in the seven no-tip-credit states — Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — the top-up cannot arise at all, because the full minimum already arrives in cash. The rule lives where the tip credit lives, and the size of the potential top-up grows with the size of the credit: Nebraska pairs a $2.13 cash wage with a $15.00 minimum, leaving tips to cover $12.87 an hour.
How Top-up (make-up pay) affects your numbers
Run the slow-week arithmetic in three states, same 25-hour workweek, same $120 in kept tips. Federal-pattern state: cash 25 × $2.13 = $53.25, plus tips $173.25, against a floor of 25 × $7.25 = $181.25 — short $8.00, owed as make-up pay. Ohio: 25 × $5.50 = $137.50 plus $120 = $257.50 against 25 × $11.00 = $275.00 — short $17.50. Nebraska: 25 × $2.13 = $53.25 plus $120 = $173.25 against 25 × $15.00 = $375.00 — short a striking $201.75, more than double the week's tips. The bigger the tip credit your state allows, the harder the top-up rule has to work in January.
| 25-hour week, $120 tips | Cash wages | Weekly floor | Top-up owed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal ($2.13 / $7.25) | $53.25 | $181.25 | $8.00 |
| Ohio ($5.50 / $11.00) | $137.50 | $275.00 | $17.50 |
| Florida ($10.98 / $14.00) | $274.50 | $350.00 | $0 — floor met in cash |
| Nebraska ($2.13 / $15.00) | $53.25 | $375.00 | $201.75 |
Common employer mistakes. Running the check monthly or per pay period instead of per workweek — the two diverge whenever a biweekly period straddles a good week and a bad one. "Borrowing" against last week's tips, or recouping a prior top-up from the next check, which would gut the guarantee the rule creates. Counting gross tips before tip-outs, which overstates what you kept. And quietly dropping the check when business dies, hoping nobody computes $181.25 against $173.25. Small numbers, but they recur — $8 a week is over $400 a year.
When does the top-up matter most? Slow seasons, new openings still building traffic, weekdays-only schedules, and any house with heavy mandatory tip-outs. In those stretches the make-up pay line is the difference between the tip credit being a legal wage system and being wage theft with paperwork. The server paycheck calculator runs the weekly floor check on your real hours and tips automatically, overtime interactions are covered by the overtime calculator, and the TippedPay home page lists the full toolkit.
FAQ
What is a top-up in tipped pay?
Make-up pay is the amount an employer must add to your check when your cash wage plus retained tips do not average the full minimum wage for a workweek. It closes the gap so every hour lands at the minimum or better.
How often must the top-up check happen?
Every workweek. Federally the comparison of cash wage plus tips against the minimum is computed on a workweek basis, and no averaging across workweeks is allowed — a strong week cannot cover a short one.
Can an employer recoup last week's top-up from a good week?
No. Deducting a prior week's make-up pay from later wages would undermine the minimum the law guarantees each workweek. Each week stands on its own.
Do tip-outs reduce the tips counted for the top-up?
Only tips you keep count toward the minimum. Amounts passed to a valid tip pool or required tip-out to eligible coworkers are generally excluded, so a heavy tip-out week can create a top-up even when gross tips looked healthy.
How do I calculate whether I'm owed a top-up?
Compare (cash wage × hours + tips you kept) against (full minimum × hours) for the workweek. If the first number is smaller, the difference is make-up pay. A paycheck calculator that runs the check automatically is the fastest way.
Is a top-up required in no-tip-credit states?
It effectively cannot happen there. States like Washington and Alaska already pay the full minimum in cash, so there is no tip credit and no gap for tips to miss.