Guides

Maryland restaurant pay rules (2026): what to pay tipped and non-tipped staff

Mays TeamJuly 1, 2026
The Scheduled Hours & Wages report in Mays for the week of June 22, 2026: a line cook's and a server's shifts, scheduled hours and wages, the server at the $3.63 tipped cash wage and the cook at $15.00 an hour

Maryland's minimum wage has been $15.00 an hour since January 1, 2024, and state law writes in no further step and no inflation adjustment (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-413). A tipped employee can be paid $3.63 an hour when tips make up the rest, and a restaurant that takes that tip credit owes each tipped employee a written tip-credit statement for every pay period (COMAR 09.12.41). What makes Maryland harder is the map: Montgomery, Howard and Prince George's counties set their own, higher rates, and Montgomery's and Howard's went up on July 1, 2026.

This page puts Maryland's figures in one place. It covers what you owe tipped staff like servers and bartenders, what you owe everyone else, and two example weeks with the math shown. Every figure links to the official page it comes from.

Updated September 24, 2026: these figures are still current. Maryland's minimum wage is $15.00 an hour ($3.63 cash wage for tipped employees). No increase is scheduled.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies can depend on your business's size and your own facts; the note at the end says more.

Maryland pay rules at a glance

As of July 1, 2026:

Rule

Maryland

Minimum wage

$15.00 an hour, since January 1, 2024

Tipped employees: minimum cash wage

$3.63 an hour, if you take the tip credit

Maximum tip credit

$11.37 an hour

Who counts as tipped

Customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips

Overtime

1.5× the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek; no daily overtime

Meal and rest breaks for adults

Not required by Maryland or federal law

Next change

None scheduled

Sources: MD Labor, minimum wage; MD Labor, tipped employees; Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-419; Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-420; Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-710; US DOL, state rest periods; Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-413.

Other Maryland rates:

  • employees under 18 (85% of the state rate): $12.75 an hour

Small restaurants. Maryland's wage and hour law doesn't cover an employee of a café, restaurant, tavern or similar place that sells food and drink for consumption on the premises and has annual gross income of $400,000 or less (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-403). Federal law can still cover such a business, through staff whose work regularly involves commerce across state lines (DOL Fact Sheet #14).

Who counts as a tipped employee in Maryland

In Maryland, a tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips (MD Labor, tipped employees).

In a restaurant that usually means servers, bartenders, bussers and counter staff who serve customers, including baristas who get tips. Cooks and dishwashers usually aren't tipped employees. Only tips the employee actually receives count. If someone works two jobs, say a server who also works prep shifts, the tip credit applies only to the hours in the tipped job (DOL Fact Sheet #15).

What you must pay tipped staff in Maryland

Servers, bartenders, bussers and baristas who get tips can be paid a lower cash wage, with part of their tips counted toward the minimum wage. That's the tip credit, and it comes with conditions:

  • Pay at least $3.63 an hour in cash wages. That's the $15.00 minimum wage minus the most you can credit from tips, $11.37 (MD Labor, tipped employees).
  • Cash wages plus tips must reach $15.00 for every hour worked, week by week. If tips fall short in a workweek, you pay the difference by the regular payday for that week (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • Tell them first. Before you take the tip credit, tell each tipped employee, in writing or out loud: the cash wage you pay, the tip credit you claim, that the credit can't be more than the tips they actually get, that they keep all their tips except through a valid tip pool, and that the credit doesn't apply unless you've told them all this (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • Overtime is figured on the full minimum wage. An overtime hour is worth 1.5 × $15.00 = $22.50. After the $11.37 tip credit, you pay at least $11.13 of it in cash wages (DOL Fact Sheet #15).

You don't have to take the tip credit. If you pay tipped staff the full $15.00 an hour, their tips are all on top, there's nothing to make up at the end of the week, and you can put kitchen staff in the tip pool (see below).

Maryland's own tip-credit rules

  • Tell each tipped employee about the law. The credit applies only to an employee you've informed about Maryland's tip-credit law and who keeps all their tips; a tip pool is allowed (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-419).
  • A tip-credit statement every pay period. No later than two weeks after each pay period ends, a restaurant gives every employee it takes the credit for a statement of all reported tips for tip-credit hours in each workweek; it can be delivered through an online system (COMAR 09.12.41).
  • Side work past 20 percent. A tipped employee who spends more than 20 percent of their work time on duties related to their tipped job that don’t bring in tips is paid at least the full minimum wage for that time (COMAR 09.12.41).

What you must pay non-tipped staff in Maryland

Cooks, dishwashers, prep cooks, and cashiers or counter staff who don't get tips are paid like any other hourly employee:

  • At least $15.00 an hour for every hour worked (MD Labor, minimum wage). No tip credit applies.
  • The same goes for a tipped employee's hours in a non-tipped job, like a server's prep shift (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • Overtime is at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. At $15.00 an hour, that's $22.50 (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-420).

Worked examples (made-up numbers)

The names, hours and tips below are made up. The rates are Maryland's as of July 1, 2026.

A server's week: when you have to top up

Sam is a server paid the $3.63 cash wage. He works 30 hours in each of two weeks: a busy one with $420.00 in tips and a slow one with $220.00.


Busy week

Slow week

Hours worked

30

30

Cash wages (30 × $3.63)

$108.90

$108.90

Tips received

$420.00

$220.00

Cash wages + tips

$528.90

$328.90

Minimum for the week (30 × $15.00)

$450.00

$450.00

You pay on top

$0.00

$121.10

In the slow week, $220.00 in tips covers only part of the $341.10 tip credit (30 × $11.37), so you pay the difference by the regular payday: $450.00 − $328.90 = $121.10. In the busy week you owe nothing extra, and every dollar of tips is still Sam's.

A cook's week with overtime

Ana is a line cook paid the Maryland minimum wage, $15.00 an hour. Over five days she works 8, 9, 10, 9 and 9 hours: 45 hours in all.


Hours

Rate

Pay

Regular hours

40

$15.00

$600.00

Overtime hours (over 40)

5

$22.50 (1.5 × $15.00)

$112.50

Total

45


$712.50

Overtime is counted by the workweek, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks: a long week earns overtime even if the next one is short (US DOL, overtime). Bonuses can change the rate too; see Time clock, breaks and overtime: first-month payroll mistakes to avoid.

Tip pooling rules in Maryland

Maryland has its own tip-pool rules (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-419): A tip credit requires that the employee keep all the tips they receive, and the statute says this "does not prohibit the pooling of tips". Maryland sets no rule of its own on who may be in a pool, on managers or on card fees.

Federal rules apply too, and where the two differ, follow the stricter one (US DOL, tips):

  • The business, its managers and supervisors never keep employees' tips. A manager can't take anything from a pool; they may keep only tips for service they directly and solely provide. An owner with a real stake who helps run the business counts as a manager too.
  • With a tip credit, a pool you require can include only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips: servers, bartenders, bussers, counter staff who serve customers.
  • Without a tip credit, when everyone in the pool gets at least the full minimum wage, you can include cooks and dishwashers.
  • Card fees: you may reduce a card tip by the percentage the card company actually charges you, and no more (DOL Fact Sheet #15).
  • Service charges: under federal law, a mandatory service charge isn't a tip: money you share from one is wages, and it counts in the regular rate for overtime (DOL Fact Sheet #15). Maryland adds its own rule: A compulsory charge for service isn't a tip, even if the employee keeps it (COMAR 09.12.41).
  • Pay pooled tips out by the regular payday for the week or pay period (DOL Fact Sheet #15).

How to split a pool fairly, with a worked example: Tip pooling for new restaurant owners.

Overtime in Maryland

Maryland's overtime law draws the same line as the federal one (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-420): non-exempt employees get at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (US DOL, overtime).

A workweek is any fixed, recurring stretch of seven days that you choose, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks. There's no daily overtime, no double time and no seventh-day premium under Maryland or federal law, and weekend or holiday hours don't earn a premium by law.

For tipped staff, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage (see the tipped section above).

Breaks in Maryland

  • Meal breaks: No specific Maryland rule found — federal rules apply (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-710). The FLSA does not require meal periods. A bona fide meal period (typically 30+ minutes) is not work time (US DOL, breaks).
  • Rest breaks: No specific Maryland rule found — federal rules apply (US DOL, state rest periods). The FLSA does not require breaks. Short breaks an employer offers (about 5 to 20 minutes) are paid work time (US DOL, breaks).
  • Minors: A minor (under 18) can't work more than 5 consecutive hours without a nonworking period of at least half an hour. In a calendar day, a minor's school and work hours together can't pass 12, and they must have at least 8 consecutive hours free of school and work (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-210).

Other Maryland rules that affect pay

  • Paid sick leave: The Healthy Working Families Act: employers with 15 or more employees give paid sick and safe leave, and smaller employers unpaid leave. It accrues at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year, and up to 40 unused hours carry over unless that would take the balance past 64 hours. Nothing accrues in a two-week pay period with fewer than 24 hours worked, and it doesn't cover someone who regularly works less than 12 hours a week (MD Labor, sick and safe leave FAQs).

Sick and safe leave, paydays and paid family leave

  • Sick and safe leave for tipped staff. You don't have to pay a tipped employee more than the minimum wage for an hour of sick and safe leave, and you can make a new hire wait 106 days before using it (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-1304).
  • Paydays and pay statements. Pay at least once every two weeks or twice a month. At hire, tell employees in writing their rate of pay, their regular paydays and their leave benefits, and with each payment give a statement of hours worked, rates, gross and net pay and deductions (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-502; Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-504).
  • Paid family and medical leave is coming. Contributions of 0.9% of wages, split equally between employer and employee, start with pay in January 2027, and an employer with fewer than 15 employees doesn’t pay the employer’s half; paid leave becomes available in January 2028 (MD FAMLI, contributions; MD Labor, FAMLI registration).

Local rates in Maryland

These cities and counties set their own minimum wage, as recorded on September 24, 2026. An employer pays the highest rate that applies where the work is done.

Area

Minimum wage

Tipped cash wage

Next change

Montgomery County

$18.00 (since July 1, 2026)

$4.00

July 1, 2027 (rate not published yet)

Howard County

$16.00 (since July 1, 2026)

$3.63

January 1, 2027 (rate not published yet)

Prince George's County

$15.30 (since July 1, 2026)

not recorded

July 1, 2027 (rate not published yet)

Sources: Montgomery County; Howard County; MD Labor, minimum wage. "Not recorded" means we found no local tipped figure; check the city's page.

Montgomery County sets its rate by employer size: $18.00 for 51 or more employees, $15.95 for 10 or fewer, and $16.50 in between, with a $4.00 cash wage for tipped staff at every size (Montgomery County). An employer of tipped staff there also files a quarterly wage report with the county (Montgomery County Code § 27-69), and the county's own sick and safe leave law applies alongside the state's (Montgomery County, sick and safe leave).

Howard County counts a food service facility of any size as a smaller employer, so restaurants reached the county's full $16.00 on July 1, 2026; staff under 18 can be paid 85% of it (Howard County).

Prince George's County requires $15.30 of every employer, whatever its size, from July 1, 2026 (MD Labor, minimum wage), adjusted every July for inflation (Prince George's County, CB-005-2025). We found no tipped cash wage published for it.

How Mays helps

Mays runs the schedule, time clock, tip pool and payroll export for each location. For Maryland pay rules, that means:

  • Positions and wages. Give each position a default hourly wage, for example the tipped cash wage for servers and at least the minimum wage for cooks. Mays doesn't check wages against the minimum wage, so update them yourself when the rate changes.
  • A tip pool per location. Split pooled tips by hours worked, equally or by FTAR score, per pay period or day by day, and choose which positions receive. Until you choose, everyone who worked gets a share, cooks included, so if you take a tip credit, pick only tipped positions, and make sure every punch carries a position: once positions are picked, a punch without one gets no share. When you set it up, turn on Leave managers and admins out of the pool: it's off by default. The tips come from your connected POS at that location (Square) or from tips synced with 7shifts time punches, and each person's share appears in the Tip Payouts report and the payroll export.
  • The tip-credit make-up is yours to check. Mays doesn't compare a tipped employee's cash wages plus tips with the minimum wage, so check each workweek the way the server example above does.
  • Time clock and timesheets. Staff clock in on their phone, a shared kiosk or an NFC tag. Timesheets run by pay period, and overtime is counted by the workweek, with an optional daily threshold for states that have one.
  • Payroll export. A standard CSV or a Gusto-format CSV with regular and overtime hours and pooled tips for each employee.
  • Minors. Mays doesn't track minors' hours or breaks, so build a minor's meal break into their shifts when you schedule them.
  • Scheduled wages at your rates. Give servers a position wage of $3.63 and cooks at least $15.00, or your county's rates, and Reports → Scheduled Hours & Wages shows each person's scheduled hours and wages for the week before you publish. It prices every hour at straight time, overtime included, so check long weeks yourself.
  • Sick and safe leave accrual. Under Scheduling → Settings → Time off & PTO accrual, set the Sick category to accrue Per hour worked, at least one hour for every 30 worked, with a maximum balance of 64 hours. The policy covers the whole organization, and Mays doesn't apply the 106-day wait for new hires, so handle that yourself.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from these official pages, as they read on the date shown.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and coverage rules (your business's size, whether federal law covers you) decide which of them apply. Check the pages above, and ask an employment lawyer or accountant about your situation.

Run Maryland payroll on the right numbers

Set each position's wage, turn on the tip pool with managers left out, and let the time clock count overtime by the workweek. Then payroll is an export, not an evening.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Setting up a tip pool? Read Tip pooling for new restaurant owners.