Comment by therealpygon

“The rest or your pay is completely dependent on tips” is not accurate. You seem to focus on the hourly rate, but you don’t seem to mention that those same people are still guaranteed Federal minimum wage if they don’t make enough tips to exceed that amount. Seems odd to not be aware of that after having “worked in the restaurant industry in a state that had a tipped wage”. Moreover, it is a Federal tipped wage, not based on a state law. State law can only require higher tipped wages or disallow such wages, but is not the law that permits them.