A Maine employer may consider tips as part of the wages of a service employee, but the credit taken by the employer may not exceed 50 percent of the state minimum hourly wage. An employer that elects to use the tip credit must inform the affected employee in advance and must be able to show that the employee receives at least the minimum hourly wage when direct wages (wages paid directly to the employee by the employer as opposed to money earned in tips) and the tip credit are combined. If the employee can show that the actual tips received were less than the tip credit, the employer must increase the employee's direct wages by the difference.
Effective September 20, 2007, a service employee is defined as an employee engaged in an occupation, such as waiters, waitresses, bellhops, counter personnel, and bartenders, in which the employee regularly and customarily receives more than $30 a month in tips. Tips received are property of the employee and are not to be shared with the employer. Service employees can voluntarily choose to pool tips to be split among other service employees or may volunteer to share a portion of the tips with employees who do not generally receive tips directly from customers. Tips that are automatically included in the customer's bill must be given to service employees. Tips that are charged to a credit card must be paid to the service employee by the employer by the next regular payday and can not be held while the employer is waiting to be reimbursed by the credit card company.