Minimum Wage for Restaurant Workers in California: Rates and Tips

Restaurant workers in California must be paid at least $16.90 per hour in 2026 under the statewide minimum wage, and many earn more. Employees at large fast food chains have a separate floor of $20.00 per hour, and dozens of cities set local rates above the state number. California also bans the federal-style tip credit, so every restaurant worker gets the full applicable minimum wage as a base, before any tips.¹

The Statewide Rate in 2026

The statewide minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for all employers, with no small-business exception.² That rate is the baseline for a server, cook, dishwasher, or host at a restaurant that is not a large fast food chain and not located in a city with its own higher wage ordinance. The rate rose from $16.00 in 2024 to $16.50 in 2025 and $16.90 in 2026, and it adjusts each January based on inflation.

The state floor is also what the hourly rate is compared against for overtime calculations, split shift premiums, and the salary threshold for exempt managers.

Fast Food Workers: $20.00 Per Hour

Since April 1, 2024, workers at large fast food chains have a separate minimum wage of $20.00 per hour, set by Assembly Bill 1228.³ That rate exceeds the state minimum and most local ordinances.

The higher wage applies to “fast food restaurant employees,” meaning workers at limited-service restaurants that belong to a chain with at least 60 locations nationwide. A limited-service restaurant is one where customers order and pay before they eat, with little or no table service.⁴ A sit-down chain restaurant where a server takes your order at the table is not covered, even if the chain is nationwide.

A Fast Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations has authority to raise the $20.00 rate annually by up to 3.5 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is smaller.⁴ Workers in this segment should check each year for an increase above the base.

City Minimum Wages Above the State Rate

Where you work matters as much as who you work for. Many California cities require more than the state minimum, and employers must always pay whichever rate is highest: state, local, or industry-specific.²

West Hollywood requires $20.25 per hour in 2026, the highest in the state. The city of Los Angeles rises to $18.42 per hour effective July 1, 2026.⁵ San Diego requires $17.75. San Francisco adjusts its rate mid-year. Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Pasadena, and Santa Monica are among the other cities that publish their own annual rates. Because local ordinances update on different dates, it’s worth checking your city’s rate at the start of the year and again in July.

Tips Are on Top, Not Instead Of

California does not allow a tip credit. An employer cannot count tips toward the minimum wage obligation, so a tipped worker gets the full applicable minimum wage as a base hourly rate, whether that is $16.90, a higher local rate, or $20.00 in fast food.⁶

Tips belong to the employee or employees they were given to. Owners, managers, and supervisors cannot share in a tip pool or keep any part of a gratuity, even one they personally earned by waiting on a table. A valid tip pool among eligible non-managerial staff is permitted. Employers also cannot deduct credit card processing fees from a worker’s tips.⁷

Voluntary tips are protected. A mandatory service charge added by the restaurant is treated differently. Whether such a charge qualifies as a gratuity under California law depends on the circumstances, including what the customer was told and how the restaurant described it.⁷ If a mandatory charge is not classified as a gratuity, it belongs to the employer. This surprises a lot of banquet servers who assume an automatic 18 or 20 percent is theirs.

Uniforms and Tools

If a restaurant requires a uniform or specific tools, the employer has to provide and maintain them at no cost to the worker.⁸ The narrow exception is that employees earning at least twice the minimum wage can be required to supply and maintain their own hand tools, like a chef’s knife roll.

Overtime

California tracks overtime by the day as well as the week, so a long shift can trigger overtime even in a week under 40 hours. Overtime is calculated from the employee’s regular rate:⁹

Time-and-a-half applies to hours over eight and up to 12 in a workday, hours over 40 in a workweek, and the first eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek.
Double time applies to hours over 12 in a workday, and to hours over eight on the seventh consecutive day.

Unauthorized overtime still has to be paid. A cook who stays late to finish prep is owed the overtime rate; the employer’s remedy is discipline, not withheld wages.⁹

Salaried restaurant managers are exempt from overtime only if they earn at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work. In 2026 that means an annual salary of at least $70,304. A manager paid less than that is likely non-exempt, whatever their title, and is owed overtime.

Meal and Rest Breaks

An employer cannot work an employee more than five hours without providing an uninterrupted 30-minute meal break. If the whole shift is six hours or less, the employee and employer can agree in writing to skip it. A second 30-minute meal break is required past 10 hours, though it can be waived by mutual agreement if the shift runs 12 hours or less and the first meal break was taken.¹⁰

Employees also get a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked. Rest breaks are on the clock.¹¹

For each workday an employer fails to provide a required meal break, the worker is owed an extra hour of pay at their regular rate. The same premium applies for a missed rest break. Miss both on the same day and the worker is owed two extra hours.¹² The premium uses the full regular rate, including commissions and nondiscretionary bonuses, not just the base hourly wage.

Reporting Time and Split Shifts

If a worker is scheduled and shows up but is sent home early, the restaurant owes reporting time pay: at least half the scheduled shift, with a minimum of two hours and a maximum of four, at the regular rate.¹³ A server sent home after one hour of a six-hour shift gets paid for that hour plus two hours of reporting time. Exceptions cover things outside the employer’s control, like a power outage or a public authority ordering the business closed. A slow night does not count.

A split shift is a schedule with an unpaid gap in the middle that’s longer than a normal meal break, such as lunch service followed by dinner service. On a split shift day, the employer owes a premium equal to one hour at the applicable minimum wage. If the worker’s hourly rate is already high enough above minimum wage to cover the premium, part or all of it can be offset by the extra pay already received.¹⁴

If You Have Been Underpaid

Workers who believe they were shortchanged on wages, overtime, tips, or break premiums can file a claim with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. Claims can be submitted online, by email, by mail, or in person.¹⁵

The deadline depends on the claim. Minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, missed break premiums, illegal deductions, and unreimbursed expenses have a three-year statute of limitations. Claims based on a verbal promise to pay above minimum wage carry two years. Claims under a written employment contract carry four years.

After a claim is filed, the office usually schedules a settlement conference. If nothing is resolved there, a hearing officer holds a formal hearing and issues a decision. Detailed personal records — hours, tips, pay stubs, break times — make the difference in most cases. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against a worker who files a claim or raises a pay concern.²

1
California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage
2
California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. Fast Food Council
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California Department of Industrial Relations. Fast Food Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions
5
City of Los Angeles. L.A. City Minimum Wage
6
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB Section 351
7
California Department of Industrial Relations. Tips and Gratuities
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California Department of Industrial Relations. In California Restaurant Workers Have Rights
9
California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
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California Legislative Information. California Code LAB Section 512
11
California Department of Industrial Relations. Wages, Breaks and Retaliation
12
California Department of Industrial Relations. Meal Periods
13
California Department of Industrial Relations. Reporting Time Pay
14
California Department of Industrial Relations. Split Shift
15
California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim