Maryland Will Rise its Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour
On Thursday, March 28 the state of Maryland became the 16th to raise its minimum wage from $10.10 per hour to $15 per hour by 2025. The state legislature in Annapolis overrode Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of the proposed legislation by 3/5th of the vote.
Medium or large companies with 15 or more employees must pay workers at least $15 an hour by 2025 and smaller companies with less than 15 employees have until July 2026 to comply with the new law. The last time Maryland raised its minimum wage was 5 years ago in 2014 when former Governor Martin O’Malley approved a $10.10 per hour minimum wage.
Nationwide, many states are raising their minimum wage to address income inequalities for their workers. States such as California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have already planned to raise their minimum wages to $15 in the near future. According to a recent January 2019 Hill-HarrisX public opinion poll, more than 50% of American adults surveyed support increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.