U.S. Department of Labor withdraws tipped worker guidance letters, revises dual jobs policy

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DOL withdraws tipped worker guidance

Highlights

U.S. Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-1, withdrawing 1979, 1980, and 1985 opinion letters and aligning tipped worker guidance with current dual jobs regulations.
The bulletin clarifies that enforcement now focuses on whether duties are related to the tipped occupation, removing any fixed percentage limit such as the previously used 80/20 rule.
The Wage and Hour Division plans to propose regulatory amendments affecting tipped employees, inviting public comment once the notice of proposed rulemaking is published.

New bulletin aligns enforcement with current rules

As reported by U.S. Department of Labor, its Wage and Hour Division has issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-1 to address how related duties performed by tipped employees are treated under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The agency says the bulletin aligns its guidance on tipped employees with dual jobs to current regulations.

The bulletin withdraws opinion letters issued in 1979, 1980 and 1985, which the division says no longer reflect its policy or interpretation of the FLSA. It also clarifies that the current dual jobs regulation centers on whether a worker performs duties related to the employee's tipped occupation, rather than applying a fixed percentage limit on time spent on related, non-tipped tasks within that occupation.

Implications for wage enforcement and future rulemaking

The updated guidance follows a 2024 federal court decision that vacated the department's 2021 dual jobs final rule. After that ruling, the department removed the regulatory text adopted under the 2021 rule and reinstated the original 1967 dual jobs regulations.

The division also states that no current Wage and Hour Division guidance relies on the former percentage-based limit commonly known as the 80/20 rule. It removed that guidance from its Field Operations Handbook in January 2025, and says the handbook is now consistent with the reinstated 1967 framework.

The department says it is also developing a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend various regulations for tipped employees under the FLSA. Public comments will be invited once the proposal is published.

Our earlier article on early-career job hopping highlighted research showing that switching jobs is a major driver of wage growth for young U.S. workers and can help them move toward better long-term employment matches. It also noted a tension between cultural skepticism about short tenures and evidence that mobility often improves earnings and career stability, shaping how pay progresses in the labor market.

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