On March 27, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law
Congress's $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus budget bill, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. Notably, on page 2,025,
Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act by addressing rules
affecting tipped employees and tip ownership, and putting to rest a
notice of proposed rulemaking on the same subject. The FLSA
amendment left open many questions, some of which were answered on
April 6, 2018, when the Department of Labor issued Field Assistance
Bulletin No. 2018-3.
In December 2017, the Department of Labor issued a proposed rule
to rescind its position that employers must comply with tip-pooling
requirements even when paying the full minimum wage. This proposal
sought to reverse the Department's regulations promulgated in
2011, and would have allowed employers to require tipped employees
paid at least the full minimum wage (without the tip credit) to
share their tips with employees who are not otherwise
