Legislation· Jan 2026Sponsored by Steve Womack (R)
Tipped Employee Protection Act
Broadens the definition of tipped employee to include any worker who receives tips, regardless of job duties.
Tradeoff
Expands which workers can be paid below the federal minimum wage if tips make up the difference. Workers would qualify based only on receiving tips, not the type of work they do.
What's in it
The House voted to recommit (send back to committee) on January 13, 2026, and the motion failed 209-215. The bill remains in the House.
House
Introduced
(Mar 24, 2025)
House
Committee on Education and Workforce(Mar 24, 2025)
House
The Committee on Education and Workforce voted to send it to the floor
Reported 19 - 15(Nov 20, 2025)
Committee report H. Rept. 119-420.
House
On
Failed(Roll #21 · Jan 13, 2026)
209 yeanay 215
- Michael Baumgartner (R-WA)
- Pete Sessions (R-TX)
- Bruce Westerman (R-AR)
- Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
- Julia Letlow (R-LA)
- Mark B. Messmer (R-IN)
Recently introduced · no floor action yet