Bill would let employers dilute worker tips by pooling with non-tipped staff
H.R. 85 — Small Business Flexibility Act · Filed by Andy Biggs (R-AZ) · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow employers to pool tips among a broader group of employees, including those who do not customarily receive tips. Currently, tip pooling is restricted to employees who regularly receive tips; this bill would permit pooling that includes non-tipped workers (such as kitchen staff or dishwashers) alongside tipped employees, provided the non-tipped workers earn at least the federal minimum wage.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to broaden the definition of permissible tip pools, allowing employers to include non-tipped workers in tip-sharing arrangements. This is functionally a wage-management tool that reduces the effective compensation of tipped workers without raising the wage floor for non-tipped workers.
What the text implies
- Employers gain incentive to hire more non-tipped workers (kitchen, dishwashing, prep) and include them in tip pools, reducing per-worker tip share without raising total tip revenue.
- Tipped workers' effective hourly compensation may decline even if nominal tip amounts remain constant, as tips are now divided among a larger group.
- The bill does not require disclosure to customers or workers about expanded pooling, so tipped workers may not know their tips are being shared with non-tipped staff.
- In low-margin food service and hospitality, this may accelerate substitution of tipped roles with non-tipped roles, further eroding tipped-worker compensation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Workers who earn tips through direct customer service face dilution of their tip income when pooled with non-tipped staff. While the bill does not eliminate tip pooling or reduce the minimum wage floor for non-tipped workers, it expands the pool of beneficiaries without requiring a corresponding increase in total tip revenue, meaning each tipped worker's share of pooled tips shrinks. The primary beneficiary is the employer, who gains flexibility in wage management and labor cost allocation.
Who stands to gain
- small restaurants and food service operators
- hospitality employers
- retail and service businesses with mixed tipped/non-tipped workforces
Named in the bill
Fair Labor Standards Act, Section 3(m)(2), Section 6(a)(1), federal minimum wage, tipped employees, non-tipped employees
Where it stands
- Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (713 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Bill would let employers dilute worker tips by pooling with non-tipped staff” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr85 Report an error
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