2016 Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2016 Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage is $3.63.
Effective 2016-01-01Source: Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)Verified 2026-09-01
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Maryland
What changed this year, and why
Maryland's tipped minimum cash wage for 2016
Common questions
- What is the minimum cash wage for tipped employees in Maryland in 2016?
- Employers must pay tipped employees at least $3.63 per hour in cash wages. This amount plus tips received must equal at least the full state minimum wage rate.
- What happens when a tipped employee performs non-tip work?
- Time spent on non-tip related tasks must be paid at the full minimum wage rate.
Who counts as a tipped employee
Under Maryland law, a worker counts as a tipped employee if they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. Maryland's Department of Labor treats anyone who clears that threshold as a tipped employee for purposes of the state's wage rules, which allows an employer to pay them a lower direct cash wage than the ordinary state minimum wage, provided the tips make up the difference. Workers in Maryland who do not regularly receive at least that amount in tips are not classified as tipped employees and must receive the full state minimum wage from their employer with no tip credit applied. The $30-per-month threshold is a bright line: a server in a busy Baltimore restaurant almost certainly meets it, while an office worker who occasionally gets a few dollars in tips generally does not. Once the threshold is met, the employer may count the employee's tips toward meeting the state minimum-wage obligation, subject to the other protections Maryland law provides.
Tipped Employees (earning more than $30 per month in tips) must earn the State Minimum Wage Rate per hour.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
Maryland allows an employer to take a tip credit against the state minimum wage for its tipped workers, but the law sets a floor on the cash wage the employer must actually pay. The employer must pay at least $3.63 per hour in direct cash wages to a tipped employee in Maryland. That cash wage, combined with the tips the worker receives, must bring the employee's total pay up to at least the full state minimum wage rate for every hour worked. The tip credit is the gap between the $3.63 the employer pays in cash and the state minimum wage: the employer is allowed to count the employee's tips toward filling that gap. If the cash wage plus tips do not reach the state minimum wage for a given work period, the employer is responsible for the shortfall. Workers in Maryland should keep track of their tips each pay period and compare them, along with the $3.63 hourly cash wage, against the state minimum wage to confirm they are being paid correctly.
Employers must pay at least $3.63 per hour. This amount plus tips must equal at least the State Minimum Wage Rate.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
Under Maryland law, an employer's cash wage plus the employee's tips must reach at least the full state minimum wage for every hour worked. In practice, this means that in any pay period where a tipped worker's tips are unusually low — perhaps because of slow business, fewer customers, or a bad shift — the employer bears responsibility for the gap. This amount plus tips must equal at least the State Minimum Wage Rate. If the $3.63 per hour cash wage and the tips the worker actually received do not add up to the state minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference out of its own funds. The rule prevents an employer from passing the risk of slow tip income onto the worker: the employee in Maryland is guaranteed to walk away with at least the state minimum wage for every hour, regardless of how much (or how little) was left in the tip jar. Workers should review their pay stubs and compare total earnings against hours worked to confirm the floor was met.
This amount plus tips must equal at least the State Minimum Wage Rate.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In Maryland, a tipped employee who is asked to spend part of their shift doing work that does not produce tips must be paid the full state minimum wage for that non-tipped time. The Maryland Department of Labor makes clear that the tip credit applies only to hours when the worker is actually engaged in tip-producing activity. Tipped employees who are from time to time assigned to perform non-tip related tasks must be paid by their employer at least the full minimum wage rate for that non-tipped time. This means a server in a Maryland restaurant who is asked to spend an hour cleaning the kitchen, doing paperwork, or stocking shelves — work that does not generate tips — must earn at least the full state minimum wage for that hour, with no tip credit applied. The lower $3.63 cash wage is permitted only for the hours spent in the tipped role. Workers who regularly split their time between tipped and non-tipped duties should review their pay to make sure their employer has not applied the tip credit to hours when they were performing non-tip work.
Tipped employees who are from time to time assigned to perform non-tip related tasks must be paid by their employer at least the full minimum wage rate for that non-tipped time.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Tipped Employees: Payment of Less than Minimum Wage - The Maryland Guide to Wage Payment and Employment Standards (Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry)
- Minimum cash wage
Employers must pay at least $3.63 per hour.
Other years
Every Maryland Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state