Are you Prepared for the Minimum Wage Increase in Montgomery County?

By Scott A. Mirsky

The road to a $15/per hour minimum wage in Montgomery County starts on July 1, 2018.   While employers have several more years before they must pay employees $15/per hour as I wrote in a recent blog post, Minimum Wage Increases are Coming to Montgomery County, Maryland, the gradual journey towards $15/per hour begins soon. On July 1st of this year, minimum wage in Montgomery County will rise to:

  • $12.25, for employers with 51 or more employees
  • $12.00, for employers with 50 or fewer employees

For those employer who are looking ahead, this rate will increase each July 1st on its way to $15/per hour.  For July 1, 2019, minimum wages in Montgomery County will increase to:

  • $13.00, for employers with 51 or more employees
  • $12.50, for employers with 50 or fewer employees

Now is the time for business to prepare for these increases.

For more information on wage and hour issues, please contact Scott A. Mirsky at 301-656-7603 or samirsky@paleyrothman.com.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to solicit business or to provide legal advice. Laws differ by state and jurisdiction. The information on this blog may not apply to every reader. You should not take any legal action based upon the information contained on this blog without first seeking professional counsel. Your use of the blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Mirsky Law Group, LLC.

Freelancers are taking over the workplace!

According to one recent 2016 study, 55 million Americans are working as freelancers (which is 35% of the US Workforce). The use of freelancers by businesses raises all sorts of legal questions, but most significantly is the issue of worker misclassification.  Businesses routinely classify freelancers as independent contractors, not employees.  Is this correct?  It depends on a variety of factors.  In general, if the freelancer is truly independent (meaning that the business does not control how the freelance does his/her work) and the freelancer operates as an independent business, then classifying the freelancer as independent contractor would most likely be correct.  However, the line between who is an employee and who in an independent contractor can sometimes be difficult to determine. Unfortunately, different laws use different tests to determine if the worker is an employee or independent contractor.  Most of the tests focus on (a) whether the business controls how the freelancer performs the work, (b) whether the business controls the “economic realities” of the relationship; and (3) whether the worker has an independent business.  Great care must be taken to ensure workers are properly classified.  A business cannot summarily decide that a particular worker is an independent contractor, rather the relationship and interaction between the business and the freelancer needs to be examined.  The consequences for misclassifying a worker can be significant, as various statues requires violators to pay fines, taxes, unpaid wages, and other damages.

For more information on worker misclassification issues, please contact Scott A. Mirsky at (301) 656-7603 or samirsky@paleyrothman.com.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to solicit business or to provide legal advice. Laws differ by state and jurisdiction. The information on this blog may not apply to every reader. You should not take any legal action based upon the information contained on this blog without first seeking professional counsel. Your use of the blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Mirsky Law Group, LLC.

Minimum Wage in Montgomery County Set to Increase Again

While is seems like the minimum wage in Montgomery County, Maryland was just increased to $10.75, employers are now less than 90 days away from the next increase. On July 1, 2017, the minimum wage will rise to $11.50 per hour.   While this increase is not a surprise, as the legislation approving this lift in the minimum wage rate was passed several years ago, the fact remains that Montgomery County will have the highest minimum wage in the State of Maryland.  However, Prince George’s County, Maryland will shortly follow and increase its minimum wage to $11.50 on October 1, 2017.   Employers in the District of Columbia are already required to comply with the $11.50 minimum wage.

As a reminder, for all hours worked over 40 in a given work week the employee must be paid time-and-one-half. In other words, all overtime hours must be paid at a rate of $17.25/per hour.

For more information on minimum wage and overtime issues, please contact Scott A. Mirsky at (301) 656-7603 or samirsky@paleyrothman.com.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to solicit business or to provide legal advice. Laws differ by state and jurisdiction. The information on this blog may not apply to every reader. You should not take any legal action based upon the information contained on this blog without first seeking professional counsel. Your use of the blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Mirsky Law Group, LLC.