The rate is $12.80 per hour for smaller businesses. With the new legislation, the accelerated time frame means all employers in Maryland, regardless of the number of employees, will be required to pay at least $15 per hour in January.Ĭurrently, the minimum wage for businesses with 15 or more employees is $13.25 per hour. Large businesses would have been required to reach $15 per hour by January 2025, followed by smaller businesses in July 2026.
“It didn’t make a lot of sense that Maryland was going to get to $15 at a slower than a place like Nebraska where cost of living is just considerably less,” said Barron-Menza.Īnd while Maryland is in the “middle of the pack” of states moving to $15, Barron-Menza says others are beginning to look at minimum wages between $18 and $20.įour years ago, the General Assembly passed a phased-in increase of the minimum wage over the objections and veto of then Gov. He said it also allows his employees to improve their standard of living, pay for childcare and even take a nicer vacation.Īlissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said accelerating the increase in Maryland helps keep up with the cost of living and with low-cost of living states such as Nebraska, which will hit $15 per hour in 2026. He said paying his employees more has lowered job turnover. Seyedian’s employees already earn $23 per hour. Smaller employers in that county will pay $14.50 per hour. Small companies of 11-50 employees will have a minimum wage of $15.00. In that county, companies with 51 or more employees will pay $16.70 per hour. About half live in Maryland and a third service clients in the state.Įmployees of the company won’t be directly affected by the coming change or the increase in Montgomery County that takes effect Saturday. Seyedian, who started his business in 2017, has nearly three-dozen employees in the Maryland-DC-Virginia area. “I just don’t think that it’s the thing that business success hinges on,” he said. The coming increases “amount to pennies on the dollar” to business owners, Seyedian said. Regionally, in western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, that living wage is about $4 less. In Maryland, a single adult must earn $19.61 per hour to cover basic living expenses, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator. I think it’s pretty rational when you think about it that way.” It’s in line with our history and our reality … to say you know, things tend to cost a bit more so people need to be paid a bit more. “The cost of living is high here and so this kind of Wal-Mart model where the state, according to some people, can kind of withstand a kind of race-to-the-bottom economics, that’s just not the kind of economy Maryland has. The change accelerates the move to $15 per hour as phased in under a 2019 law.Īaron Seyedian, owner of Well-Paid Maids, said business owners should embrace the coming change because of its overall benefits. Wes Moore (D) in his first year in office.
The Fair Wage Act of 2023, passed earlier this year, was a priority for Gov. Starting Saturday, most business owners around the state will have six months to prepare for a coming jump in the state’s minimum wage. Advocates pressed for a minimum wage increase to $15 at a 2019 press conference in Annapolis.
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