This post is to remind all clients or interested business people reading this that, effective this past Friday, July 1, 2016, the hourly minimum wage in Maryland and the District of Columbia has increased as follows:
Maryland:
Statewide. The minimum wage for regular hourly employees is now $8.75 per hour. It had been $8.25 and is set to increase annually again in 2017 and 2018, to an ultimate level of $10.10 an hour. For employees that earn a substantial portion of their income from tips, however, the tipped minimum wage will remain at $3.63 an hour.
Local Laws. Note that some Maryland jurisdictions have a higher minimum wage and that in Montgomery County the minimum wage was raised to $10.75 as of July 1, 2016, and will go to the same level in Prince George’s County on October 1, 2016. Both counties’ minimum will go to $11.50 as of July 1 and October 1, 2017, respectively. The tipped minimum wage in both jurisdictions is unchanged at $4.00 per hour.
District of Columbia:
The minimum hourly rate for regular hourly employees is now $11.50 per hour, while the tipped minimum wage will stay at $2.77 an hour.
If you have any questions about how these new rates effect your business, or if you are unsure if you are properly using the tipped minimum wage, please feel free to contact us.