Is a mandatory tip pool legal in Nevada?
The short answer
The rule in Nevada
| Mandatory pools | Allowed, and they may include employees of different ranks. |
|---|---|
| Condition | All tips must be distributed among employees; the employer keeps none. |
| Taking tips or tip credit | The employer may not take any tips or apply them as a credit toward the minimum wage (NRS 608.160). |
“Yes, employers may establish mandatory tip pools that include employees of different ranks, so long as all the tips are distributed amongst the employees, and the employer does not keep any portion of the tips for themselves.” (Nevada Labor Commissioner: frequently asked questions)
What’s different in Nevada
A federal tip-credit employer can only require a pool among customarily tipped jobs. Nevada takes the tip credit off the table completely, so your employer owes the full $12.00 an hour in cash wages, and the Labor Commissioner describes pools that mix “different ranks” of employees.
That phrase doesn’t map neatly onto the federal duties test, which keeps managers and supervisors out of every pool. The commissioner issued an advisory opinion in August 2025 on whether employees with some managerial tasks can be pooled. We couldn’t extract its conclusion, so this page doesn’t tell you where Nevada draws that line. If a shift lead is in your pool, ask your employer which rule it follows.
Official sources
Last verified
. Checked the agency pages linked above.
Still open: Nevada’s August 12, 2025 advisory opinion on pooling employees who do some managerial tasks exists, but its conclusion wasn’t readable in the saved copy, so we don’t state it.