[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR531.57]

[Page 173-174]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 531_WAGE PAYMENTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938--Table 
of Contents
 
                        Subpart C_Interpretations
 
Sec. 531.57  Receiving the minimum amount ``customarily and regularly.''

    The employee must receive more than $20 a month in tips 
``customarily and regularly'' in the occupation in which he is engaged 
in order to qualify as a tipped employee under section 3(t). If it is 
known that he always receives more than the stipulated amount each 
month, as may be the case with many employees in occupations such as 
those of waiters, bellhops, taxicab drivers,

[[Page 174]]

barbers, or beauty operators, the employee will qualify and the tip 
credit provisions of section 3(m) may be applied. On the other hand, an 
employee who only occasionally or sporadically receives tips totaling 
more than $20 a month, such as at Christmas or New Years when customers 
may be more generous than usual, will not be deemed a tipped employee. 
The phrase ``customarily and regularly'' signifies a frequency which 
must be greater than occasional, but which may be less than constant. If 
an employee is in an occupation in which he normally and recurrently 
receives more than $20 a month in tips, he will be considered a tipped 
employee even though occasionally because of sickness, vacation, 
seasonal fluctuations or the like, he fails to receive more than $20 in 
tips in a particular month.