Florida’s $15 wage floor: pay, pricing, and tip credit steps

What changed and who it hits

AOL.com reports that Florida’s minimum wage is moving to 15 dollars. This affects all nonexempt roles in grooming businesses, including bathers, reception, kennel or prep assistants, and any groomers paid commission or by the piece who are still nonexempt. Owners need to align pay, policies, pricing, and paperwork before the first payroll that includes the new floor.

Immediate payroll actions for salons and mobiles

Make these changes in your payroll system now, so they take effect cleanly for the pay period when the new rate applies.

• Set any base hourly rate below 15 to 15 or higher. Include training days and slow days. There is no lower cash rate for slow seasons.
• Reset any automatic differentials, paid breaks, and on-call rates so nothing drops below 15.
• Rebuild your time off and holiday templates. Paid time off hours must also be paid at least 15.
• Tighten overtime control. Cap hourly staff at 40 hours unless you have priced for time-and-a-half. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the regular rate, which for commissioned staff includes commissions in the calculation.
• Update offer letters and your handbook pay section. Put the new wage floor and any tip credit approach in writing.
• Post the updated Florida minimum wage notice where staff clock in, and refresh the federal poster set at the same time.

For owners who run payroll through software, create an audit report that flags any check with an effective hourly below 15. Many systems have a minimum pay rule you can toggle on. Use it.

Tip credit in Florida: use it correctly or skip it

Florida allows an employer tip credit of up to 3.02 dollars. When the state minimum is 15, that sets a tipped cash wage of 11.98 for eligible employees if, and only if, you meet all requirements. This section is operating guidance, not legal advice. Confirm details with your payroll provider or counsel.

• Written notice first. Give tipped staff a written notice that states the cash wage you will pay, the tip credit amount taken, that tips belong to the employee, and that you will make up any shortfall to reach 15 each workweek.
• Daily tip records. Track tips per employee per day. Acceptable methods include a signed tip report at close or recorded electronic tips by employee from your payment system, plus any declared cash tips.
• Shortfall make-up. If cash wage plus tips do not reach 15 for the workweek, you must top up that paycheck.
• Valid pools only. No managers or owners in a tip pool. Only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips can share. When in doubt, pay the full 15 cash and avoid the credit.

Front desk in grooming can be tricky on tip eligibility. If your receptionist does not regularly receive customer tips, using the tip credit on that role is risky. Many salons choose to pay the full 15 in cash for front desk and use the tip credit only for roles that clearly qualify.

Commission and piece rate: check the math weekly

Commissioned and piece rate groomers are often nonexempt. You must confirm each workweek that total pay divided by total hours meets or exceeds 15, and you must add overtime premium on top of commission when hours exceed 40.

• Weekly floor test. Sum all compensation for the week for that employee, including commission and bonuses. Divide by total hours worked that week. If the result is below 15, add a make-up line item to bring the average to 15.
• Overtime on commissioned weeks. Calculate the regular rate as total compensation divided by hours, then pay an additional 0.5 times that regular rate for each hour over 40. Do not forget this even if commission is high.
• Put it on rails. Build a simple sheet with columns for hours, gross pay, regular rate, minimum check, and overtime premium. Review every Monday before you run payroll.

If you guarantee new groomers a day rate during onboarding, make sure that day rate averages at least 15 per hour over the pay period.

Pricing moves to protect margin

Labor is your largest controllable cost. If your base wages or make-up pay are rising, your prices should rise too. Aim to keep labor between 35 percent and 45 percent of grooming sales, depending on your model.

• Back-of-napkin math. If you raise a bather from 13 to 15 for an 8 hour day, that is 16 dollars more labor. If the shop does 6 full grooms that day, add about 3 dollars to each groom just to cover that increase, before taxes and payroll costs.
• Set specific increases. A common move is 3 to 5 dollars on small to medium full grooms, 5 to 8 dollars on large and giant, and 2 to 4 dollars on bath only or tidy services. Round to clean price points.
• Charge for time. For matted or oversized dogs, enforce a time based upcharge policy, for example 1 dollar per minute over the booked slot, with a 15 minute minimum.
• Avoid junk fees. Build the change into your menu instead of adding a separate wage surcharge that confuses clients.
• Protect the book. Increase your deposit to 20 percent to 40 percent for new clients and high risk time slots, and require a card on file to reduce no-shows.

Update your online menu, confirmation texts, and in-salon signage the same week you adjust pay. If you use software with online payments and deposits, turn on deposits for peak times so the schedule stays tight while you absorb the wage change.

Communication, scheduling, and staffing

How you roll this out matters. Keep it short and factual with clients and clear with staff.

• Client script. We have updated our service prices. Labor costs increased statewide, and this adjustment keeps your groomer paid fairly while we maintain quality and safety. Thank you for understanding.
• Staff bands. Set visible pay bands so growth is clear. For example, bathers 15 to 18, front desk 15 to 17, senior or lead bather 17 to 19. Tie raises to skills like efficient de-shed, safe handling, and rebooking rates.
• Schedule for 40. Until your new prices have run for a full cycle, limit overtime. Use staggered starts so coverage matches drop-off and pick-up peaks.
• Measure weekly. Track labor percent of sales, average ticket, and rebook rate. If labor percent lands above target for two straight weeks, adjust prices or trim low margin services.

For mobile owners, audit drive time. Use a mapped route that shortens the day and eliminates unpaid buffer time. Reducing 30 minutes of dead time can offset part of a wage increase without touching prices.

If you need a lightweight way to tighten reminders, deposits, and policy wording while you adjust rates, GroomBoard includes online booking, SMS reminders, client records, and Stripe deposits on plans that start at 9 dollars a month, with a 7 day free trial.

Plan, change the numbers, and move on. The owners who adjust quickly will keep their books full and their teams steady.