Class code 9082: table service, tips, and the premium base

The classification follows the service model. Food served to seated patrons by wait staff is the table-service class; counter-service and quick-service formats belong elsewhere in the manual. This matters because restaurants change format more often than they change insurance paperwork — a dining room converts to counter ordering, a pandemic-era takeout operation never fully reverts — and the classification quietly stops describing the business. The kitchen, service and host payroll of one establishment sit together in the applicable class, so the whole location moves when the format does.

The larger surprise is the payroll base. Tips reported to the employer for tax purposes are generally included in the premium base, which means a tipped house is charged on total reported earnings rather than on the hourly wage it actually pays. Two restaurants with identical hourly cost can therefore carry materially different premium, and the one that reports tips correctly is the one that looks more expensive. That is not a reason to under-report; it is a reason to model the premium against reported earnings when budgeting, and to check whether the state permits any exclusion for the excess portion of overtime.

Food service is the vertical where co-employment economics are decided by churn. Administrative fees quoted per employee per month are billed against a headcount that turns over several times a year, so the annual figure bears little resemblance to a quote built on a snapshot census. Ask for the billing rule on employees who work a single pay period, ask whether the workers' compensation programme carries a deposit or an audit adjustment, and price the arrangement against last year's actual hire and leave counts.

What decides the rate, and what does not

There is no rate table here, for a reason specific to food service: the premium base moves more than the rate does. Loss costs are filed and approved per state and adjusted by experience rating, but the variable that most often changes a restaurant's bill is reported earnings, including tips, rising against an unchanged hourly wage. Model the base before arguing about the rate.

Where to go next

Run the numbers in the class-rate premium calculator, browse all published class codes, and start the category at the PEO overview. How we source and date every claim is set out in our methodology, the contractual duty split is explained at shared employer status, defined, and adjacent classifications include carpentry, detached dwellings, code 5645, trucking, local hauling, code 7228, clerical office employees, code 8810.

What this doesn't cover

Nothing here is tax advice, insurance advice, or a statement about your specific establishment. The treatment of reported tips in the premium base and of overtime excess varies by jurisdiction, format changes can move the classification mid-term, and the carrier makes the final call at audit. Verify 9082 and your payroll base with the carrier and your payroll provider before budgeting from it.