Minimum wage in Montgomery County increasing on July 1

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Minimum wage workers in Montgomery County will see a bit of a pay bump next month as hourly pay will be increased starting July 1. 

The minimum wage rate for large employers, who staff 51 or more workers, will increase to $17.15 per hour. Additionally, employers who staff 11-50 workers, also known as mid-sized employers, their minimum wage requirement will increase to $15.50 per hour. 

For companies that employ 10 or fewer workers, the increase to $15 per hour already happened on Jan. 1.  

The Montgomery County Office of Human Rights website says the minimum wage increase is to keep pace with local inflation, which is required by county law. 

"The new rates for large and mid-sized businesses are based on the change in the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers in the Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria area for the previous year, which was 2.8 percent," the Montgomery County Government said in a press release. 

Montgomery County's wage law was sponsored by then County Councilmember (and now County Executive) Marc Elrich in 2017. 

“I firmly believe that increasing the minimum wage for low-wage workers is one of the most important actions we can take as a government,” said County Executive Elrich. “Ensuring that individuals and families can afford rent, food, health care and transportation is essential. No one working full-time should struggle to put a roof over their head or food on their table. We also indexed the minimum wage for inflation so that it would not lose its value. If this had been done with the federal minimum wage, we likely would not have had to enact legislation at the local level. This extra income can make a meaningful difference for many families, helping them to better meet their needs and improve their quality of life.”

Montgomery County isn't the only area of the DMV seeing a minimum wage hike on July 1. Workers in D.C. will also see an increase to $17.50 while tipped workers' base pay will increase from $8 an hour to $10. 

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