REMINDER: New Year, New Minimum Wages in Maryland and D.C.

By former Associate Ethan Don

Take Away: Effective January 1, 2015, Maryland’s minimum wages rises from $7.25/hr to $8.00/hr. On July 1, 2015, Washington, D.C.’s minimum wages rises to $10.50/hr.

As the New Year begins, employers in Maryland and Washington, D.C. need to make sure that hourly employees are being paid at least the correct minimum wages. In Maryland, that will mean $8.00 an hour beginning New Year’s Day. In the District of Columbia, the minimum wage will be $10.50 an hour, effective July 1, 2015. These increases affect not just regular hourly pay but also any overtime pay.

Additionally, Maryland’s minimum wage is scheduled to continue to rise, becoming $8.25/hr on July 1, 2015, and increasing by fifty cents (.50) each July 1 through 2017 and a further eighty-five cents (.85) July 1, 2018. Similarly, D.C.’s minimum wage will be $11.50 an hour effective July 1, 2016, with an indexed increase beginning in 2017.

Employers also need to be sure that they comply with county minimum wages. Montgomery County, Maryland, for instance, has a current minimum wage of $8.40 an hour, which increases to $9.55/hr on October 1, 2015, $10.75 on October 1, 2016, and then to $11.50 on October 1, 2017. Prince George’s County, Maryland, will have the same rate increases.