Effective January 1, 2015 the Maryland minimum wage increases to $8.00 per hour in the first of a series of rate hikes for workers. In a second increase, on July 1, 2015 the state minimum wage goes up to $8.25 per hour. Additional increases will occur in steps, until the Maryland minimum wage reaches $10.10 in 2018. The minimum wage for tipped employees in Maryland remains at $3.63.
Schedule increases in the Maryland minimum wage include an increase to $8.75 in July 2016 and to $9.25 in July 2017. On July 1, 2018 the final step will increase the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. The law does not include an annual increase after 2018, although that measure was originally proposed by Governor Martin O’Malley (D).
Some counties within the state have already implemented higher minimum wages. Montgomery and Prince George’s counties have approved increases to $11.50 by 2017. Maryland employers are allowed to pay a lower training wage equal to 85% of the state minimum wage, or $6.80 beginning in 2015.
Like many states, the MD minimum wage law contains a host of exceptions. Employees under 16 who work less than 20 hours per week are not covered by the minimum wage. Nor are employees 62 or older, who are employed less than 25 hours per week. Salaried exempt workers are excluded, as are salespeople, movie theater workers and employees of small cafes or restaurants with less than $250K in annual revenue.
The Maryland Wage Payment Law has been in effect since 2010. That law requires business owners to establish a regular payday and to pay employees promptly, on that day. The law designates “wages” means all compensation that is due for employment, including hourly rate, bonuses, commissions, fringe benefits, overtime and “any other remuneration promised for service.”
The law, officially the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law, requires that employers pay hourly employees at least twice per month. Salaried employees can be paid just once per month. Both the Maryland minimum wage law and the wage payment law are enforced by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s division of Employment Standards.
