12.31.23 – WJLA – by Rebecca Turco -WASHINGTON (7News)
The new year comes with a pay raise for an estimated 163,000 workers in Maryland.
The state’s minimum wage will increase to $15 per hour beginning Monday. Tipped workers will still be making $3.63 per hour if they get more than $30 per month in tips.
Andy Shallal, the founder and CEO of Busboys and Poets, feels this is a win for both workers and business owners.
“When you have happy employees, you’re going to have better employees,” he said. “I think we as a community have to think about more it holistically: as we prosper and grow, I want everybody else to prosper and grow along with me.”
Busboys and Poets has eight locations across the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. Shallal said he chose to have each location match the minimum wage in D.C., which is the highest of the three areas.
“The tide was moving in the direction that we need to really step it up as employers and so we were ahead of the curve right from the beginning,” Shallal said.
The minimum wage in the District Columbia is $17 per hour. The minimum wage in Virginia is $12 per hour.
Shallal recommends other small businesses try to keep ahead of the minimum wage. “The minute you are being dragged into it, it works against you,” he said. “Not only do you have to make the adjustments suddenly, but it also doesn’t make you look good.”
Mike O’Halloran, Maryland and Delaware’s state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, told 7News many small business owners won’t be able to afford the pay raise.
“Small businesses are feeling the pinch,” O’Halloran said. “They’re saying, ‘Look, inflation is killing us, the cost of goods is going up.’”
O’Halloran said many small businesses will end up raising their prices now to make their bottom line. On top of that, he added, is the issue of wage compression, where workers who have been at the same place for a while will want more of a pay bump to differentiate from newer staff starting at a higher rate.
“They’re going to look for a pay bump as well and frankly, who can blame them,” said O’Halloran.