Delaware does not have overtime laws that are different from federal overtime law.

The minimum wage in Delaware is $8.75 per hour, which is higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The  minimum wage increases to 9.25 in October 2020.

Generally, employers cannot use other costs of employment to decrease the minimum wage required. Employers, however, can use tips and gratuities to reduce the minimum wage required to $2.23. Tip pooling is permitted in some circumstances, but cannot exceed 15% of the actual tips received by the employee.

The following employees may be paid at a rate below the minimum wage:

• Disabled workers
• Apprentices
• Student-learners

The following employees are exempt from the minimum wage requirement:

• Agricultural employees
• Domestic services in or about private homes
• Federal employees
• Executives, administrators, and professionals
• Outside commission paid salespersons
• Fishing and fishing processing at sea
• Volunteers for educational, religious, or non-profit organizations
• Junior camp counselors employed by non-profit summer camps
• Inmates

No cities or counties in Delaware currently have a minimum wage different from the state minimum of $8.25 per hour, or a tipped minimum of $2.23 per hour.

Under Delaware laws, all employees are entitled to a 30-minute meal break after the first two hours and before the last two hours of work if they are scheduled to work at least seven and a half hours per day.

The meal period requirement does not apply to the following employees:

• Professionals certified by the State Board of Education and employed by a local school board to work directly with children
• Employees governed by a collective bargaining agreement or other written agreement which provides otherwise

You can file a wage claim with the Delaware Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Law Enforcement.

If you have a wage/hour claim, do not delay in contacting the Office of Labor Law Enforcement to file a claim. There are strict time limits in which wage claims must be filed. The ability to claim expires one year after the date that the claim arose. However, in order for the agency to act on your behalf, you must file within ten and a half monthsfrom the date that the claim arose.

Do not wait to file your claim until your time limit is close to expiring. It may be helpful to consult with an attorney prior to filing your claim, but it is not necessary to have an attorney to file your claim.

In Delaware a private attorney can file a private lawsuit to recover past compensation plus attorney’s fees and reasonable costs.

Division of Industrial Affairs

Office of Labor Law Enforcement 

Wilmington
4425 North Market Street
3^rd Floor
Wilmington, DE 19802
Phone: (302) 761-8200 

Dover
Blue Hen Corporate Center
655 South Bay Road, Suite 2H
Dover, DE 19901
Phone: (302) 422-1134