---
title: "Federal Government Officially Rescinds \"80/20 Rule”"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/dbbb8bc4-7923-46b5-a8b3-81ee214d2829
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/federal-government-officially-rescinds-8020-rule-2709203
category: "Regulation"
topics: ["Regulation & legal"]
published: 2019-02-18T20:15:37.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:08:06.470Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/4ae95b884d1fe164958942d79081cc032844.jpg
---

# Federal Government Officially Rescinds "80/20 Rule”

**TL;DR:** The U.S. Department of Labor rescinds the '80/20 rule', which prohibited paying employees subminimum wage for side work not tipped. The original rule said employees who spent more than 20 percent of work hours on non-tipped tasks could not be paid less than minimum wage for that time.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-02-18. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/federal-government-officially-rescinds-8020-rule-2709203).*

## Story

The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued an official update to the “80/20 rule,” which prohibited paying employees, such as restaurant servers, subminimum wage for side work that’s not tipped, according to an article by Nation’s Restaurant News.

The article notes the Department of Labor announced its plans to revise the rule back in November. The original Obama-era interpretation said that employees who spent more than 20 percent of work hours on tasks that were not tipped could not be paid less than minimum wage for that time, according to the article. Such duties for servers at franchise restaurants, for example, are rolling silverware, food prep and other common “side work.”

Roy Salins, a labor attorney in New York, told Nation’s Restaurant News that large restaurant companies with operations in a number of states, like many franchises, should consider having an overarching wage structure that accommodates all jurisdictions due to varied state-based and local regulations around the country. The article notes that some states such as New York have adopted their own 80/20 laws.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- new york (location)
- U.S. Department of Labor (regulator)
- labor regulation (topic)
- department of labor (topic)
- 80/20 rule (topic)
- wage law (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/federal-government-officially-rescinds-8020-rule-2709203). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/dbbb8bc4-7923-46b5-a8b3-81ee214d2829).