An increase in Montgomery County’s minimum wage rate starting Monday means hourly workers at many local businesses are likely to soon receive bigger paychecks.
The minimum hourly wage rate for large employers with 51 or more employees will increase by 45 cents to $17.15 per hour, while the rate for mid-sized employers with 11 to 50 employees will increase by 50 cents to $15.50 per hour, according to a county press release.
The rates are based on the 2.8% increase in the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers in the Washington, D.C., region in the previous year.
Employers with 10 or fewer employees will not be affected by the increase, as all employers in the county were impacted by the Fair Wage Act of 2023, a state law that increased the minimum wage to $15 per hour on Jan. 1. Under current county provisions, the local minimum wage was set to increase to $15 by Monday, but the new state law fast-tracked the increase. The 2023 law made Maryland the sixth state in the nation to reach a $15 minimum wage.
The county’s current minimum wage law went into effect on July 1, 2018, phasing in wage increases for large, mid-sized and small businesses. County employers are required to comply with the state or county’s minimum wage, whichever is higher, according to county law.
One key difference between the minimum wage laws for the county and the state is that the county law indexes the local minimum wage for inflation. The state law did not pass with indexing, meaning county wage rates will continue to differ from the state in the future depending on the status of inflation.
County Executive Marc Elrich (D) has consistently touted the county minimum wage law.
“I think, you know, doing what we did was the right thing to do, and I think it’s made our county stronger,” Elrich said in December. “And, you know, this is about correcting an historic injustice.”
Pay for tipped employees must meet the county minimum hourly wage rate including their tips, according to county law. Employers must pay at least $4 per hour to such employees, and that amount plus tips must equal the county minimum wage.
County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) withdrew a bill in January that would have raised the base minimum wage for tipped workers. The legislation would have increased the base minimum wage at a staggered rate–going up to $6 next month, $8 in July 2025, and then increasing by $2 increments annually until reaching the same rate as the standard minimum wage, according to a chart provided by a council staff member.
Jawando said he withdrew the legislation due to a proposed state bill that aimed to accomplish the same goal. The One Fair Wage Act of 2024, introduced during this year’s Maryland General Assembly session, did not pass.