What Hotel & Motel Workers Need to Know About Wage and Hour Laws

Whether you’re full-time, part-time, hourly, tipped, or salaried, chances are the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protects you. This federal law establishes clear rules regarding minimum wage, overtime pay, and youth labor, and it applies to most hotel and motel employees nationwide. Here’s what you need to know about your basic rights on the job.

Who’s Covered Under the FLSA?

The FLSA protects most hotel and motel employees through one of two forms of coverage:

Enterprise Coverage

If your hotel or motel makes at least $500,000 in annual revenue and has at least two employees engaged in interstate commerce, like processing credit card payments or managing out-of-state reservations, then all employees are covered under the law.

Individual coverage

Even if the business doesn’t meet that revenue threshold, you may still be protected if your job involves interstate activities. This includes tasks such as booking travel for out-of-state guests, handling mail or phone orders across state lines, or collaborating with out-of-state vendors and suppliers.

What Hotel and Motel Workers Are Entitled To

If you're covered under the FLSA, you’re legally entitled to fair pay, overtime, and more. Here’s a breakdown of your key protections:

Minimum Wage

Non-exempt employees must be paid at least $7.25 per hour. Employers can count tips toward this amount for customarily tipped employees, but they must pay at least $2.13 per hour in direct wages; tips must then make up the difference. If they don’t, they’re violating the law.

Overtime

Any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek must be paid at 1.5 times your regular rate. That includes not just hourly wages, but also tips (if applicable), bonuses, commissions, and even the value of meals or housing provided by your employer.

Tips and Tip Credits

If you are employed in a position in which you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips, and your employer plans to take a tip credit, they must notify you in writing. You’re entitled to keep all your tips unless you're part of a valid tip pool. Only specific job roles, such as servers or bellhops, can be included in the pool. Back-of-house employees, such as cooks, janitors, and dishwashers, are not eligible to participate in the tip pool.

Youth Minimum Wage

Workers under 20 can legally be paid $4.25 per hour during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. However, employers can’t terminate existing employees just to replace them with lower-paid youth workers.

Child Labor Protections

• Under 14: You generally can’t be hired.
• Ages 14–15: You may work limited hours in certain non-hazardous roles.
• Under 18: You’re prohibited from working in dangerous jobs, such as operating heavy machinery or working with certain chemicals.

Recordkeeping Requirements

Employers must keep accurate records of your hours worked, wages paid, and job classification. This also includes tracking work performed by employees under the minimum age requirement.

Exemptions

Only workers in specific roles, such as executives, administrators, professionals, or outside sales representatives, can be legally exempt from overtime pay. Being salaried alone does not make you exempt.

Common FLSA Violations in the Hotel and Motel Industry

Unfortunately, wage violations in hotels and motels are all too common. Here are some of the most frequent ways employers violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA):

• Misclassifying employees as “salaried exempt” without meeting legal criteria
• Failing to track hours or pay overtime for non-exempt salaried staff
• Not paying for work done before/after shifts or during unpaid meal breaks
• Taking illegal deductions for uniforms, register shortages, or mistakes
• Underpaying overtime by excluding bonuses, service charges, or other earnings
• Misusing tip credits or including back-of-house staff in tip pools
• Paying straight time for hours over 40 instead of time-and-a-half
• Averaging hours across weeks to avoid paying overtime
• Ignoring wage laws for temp or leased workers jointly employed by hotels

The bottom line? If you're working hard in a hotel or motel, the law says you deserve fair pay for every hour. That includes protections for tipped workers, young employees, and anyone working long or irregular shifts.

Talk to a Morgan & Morgan Attorney

Even with clear rules in place, many employers in the hospitality industry cut corners. If you believe your rights are being violated or you're not being paid fairly, don’t wait. Contact Morgan & Morgan for a free, confidential case review. Our employment attorneys may be able to help you recover the wages you're owed and hold your employer accountable.

This information is based on fact sheets the U.S. Department of Labor provides.