--- title: "Maryland Wage, Overtime & Meal Break Law 2026" description: "Maryland pays a $15 minimum wage, overtime 1.5x after 40 hours, no daily overtime and no general adult break law. Employer guide." canonical: https://www.teamed.global/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law --- United States · Maryland · Wage & hour child Served by Teamed US Inc., Delaware · Payroll via SUNA Solutions # How do *Maryland wage, overtime and meal break laws* work in 2026? Maryland runs a $15 minimum wage statewide, overtime at 1.5 times pay after 40 hours in a week, no daily overtime, and no general meal or rest break for adults. Last reviewed 6 June 2026 · Maryland, United States guide ![Baltimore Inner Harbor at golden hour, the USS Constellation moored below the National Aquarium and downtown office towers, dock workers walking the waterfront promenade.](/cluster-assets/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law/images/hero.webp) Illustration · Baltimore, Maryland Maryland sets its own floor under the [Fair Wage Act](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml): a **$15** minimum wage for every employer, regardless of size, with a tipped cash wage of **$3.63** an hour where tips top the worker up to $15. Montgomery, Howard and Prince George's counties sit higher. Overtime follows the federal week under the [FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime): **1.5 times pay after 40 hours**, with **no daily overtime**. There is **no general meal or rest break** for adults, so the real work is the county floor, the tip credit and the exemption test. ## What is the Maryland minimum wage in 2026? The Maryland minimum wage is **$15 an hour** in 2026. The [Fair Wage Act](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml) sets this rate for all employers, whatever their headcount, so $15 is the statewide floor. Tipped staff can be paid a cash wage of **$3.63 an hour** when tips bring total pay to $15. If tips fall short in a pay period, you cover the gap that same period. The statewide $15 rate is not the whole picture. Montgomery County, Howard County and Prince George's County each run their own higher minimum wages, and the rate there depends on employer size. If you hire in those counties, the local figure governs, not the state $15. Check the county before you set a wage, because the higher number wins. Review how Maryland income obligations sit alongside wages on the [Maryland state tax and unemployment insurance](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/state-income-tax-and-unemployment-insurance) page. The tip credit is the calculation that bites. A tipped worker paid $3.63 in cash must reach $15 an hour once tips are counted, and the burden of proving they did sits with you. Track tips against the floor each pay period and top up any shortfall, or the whole credit can be disallowed in an audit. The [Fair Labor Standards Act](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa) sets the same obligation at the federal level; Maryland's rule is no softer. ## How does overtime work in Maryland? Maryland pays overtime at **1.5 times** the regular rate after **40 hours in a workweek**, in line with the federal [FLSA overtime rules](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime). The state has no extra weekly premium of its own for most workers. There is **no daily overtime in Maryland**. A worker can do a twelve-hour shift with no premium, as long as the week stays at or under 40 hours. Only hours past 40 in the seven-day week count. Maryland Division of Labor and Industry · FLSA Work more than 40 hours in any workweek and you owe 1.5x the regular rate for every hour over that line. No daily-overtime rule applies. A handful of industries carry a higher weekly threshold instead. Source: [Maryland Department of Labor, minimum wage and overtime facts](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml) Maryland differs sharply from states like [Virginia](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/virginia/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law), which also follows the federal week, and from California, which adds daily overtime after eight hours. In Maryland, a four-day, ten-hour roster carries no premium because the week lands at exactly 40 hours. A few sectors, such as bowling and some residential care, run a 48-hour weekly threshold, and certain farm work uses 60, so confirm the role before you set a roster. The regular rate must include non-discretionary bonuses and commissions, so overtime is figured on total earnings, not base pay alone. See how overtime interacts with leave obligations on the [Maryland paid family and sick leave](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/paid-family-and-sick-leave) page. ## What are the meal and rest break rules in Maryland? Maryland has **no general meal or rest break law** for adult employees. Most workers have no statutory right to a break during an eight, ten or twelve-hour shift, though many employers schedule them as a matter of practice. The one carve-out is large retail. Under the [Healthy Retail Employees Act](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml), retail employers with 50 or more staff must give shift breaks scaled to hours worked, and minors get a break by separate rule. For most Maryland adults, break policy is yours to set, so the federal pay rule is what governs the cost. The [FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa) says a rest break of twenty minutes or less counts as hours worked and is paid, so it folds into the 40-hour overtime count. An unpaid meal break only works if the employee is fully relieved of duty; a working lunch at a desk is paid time. Do not assume an unpaid meal break is free just because the state does not require one. Compare this to [Delaware wage and break law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/delaware/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law), which follows the same federal floor. The Healthy Retail Employees Act is the exception to flag. A covered retail employer with fifty or more employees owes a paid fifteen-minute break for a four-to-six-hour shift and a thirty-minute break for a shift over six hours, with more for longer shifts. Minors under eighteen get a thirty-minute break for every five consecutive hours. If you staff a Maryland storefront, map your roster to those triggers, because a missed break there is a real penalty, not a courtesy. Check how Maryland classifies who counts as an employee on the [Maryland termination law and at-will exceptions](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/termination-law-and-at-will-exceptions) page. ## Who is exempt from overtime in Maryland? An employee is exempt from overtime only if they are paid at least **$684 a week** (**$35,568 a year**) on a salary basis and meet the federal duties test for an executive, administrative or professional role under the [FLSA white-collar exemptions](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime). Salary alone is not enough. A worker earning over $684 a week who does not meet the duties test is still non-exempt and owed overtime after 40 hours. The $684 weekly threshold is the 2019 federal level, restored after the 2024 increase was struck down by a federal court and formally rolled back by the [US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime) in May 2026. So the in-force 2026 figure is $684 a week, not the higher number some payroll tables still show. Maryland sets no higher salary bar of its own. Misclassification is the expensive Maryland error. Pay a salaried hire over the $684 threshold and you still owe overtime if the duties test is not met. Every over-40-hour week then becomes back-pay, often doubled as liquidated damages under the [FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa). Test the duties, not just the salary, before you classify anyone as exempt. Use the [employer cost calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/employer-cost) to model the true cost of a Maryland hire before you set the compensation structure. ## How Teamed runs Maryland wage and hour compliance Teamed becomes your legal [employer of record](/employer-of-record) in Maryland for [**from $599 per employee per month flat**](/pricing). **Zero FX mark-up**. We run the timesheet-to-payslip path so overtime, the $15 floor, county rates and the tip credit are calculated correctly, every cycle. You set the schedule. Teamed applies the 1.5x rate after 40 hours, costs tipped roles against $3.63, and tests every salaried hire against the $684 exemption bar before it becomes back-pay. Everything runs on **one platform**. **Real HR and legal experts** handle your Maryland hires and know the county floors, the tip-credit top-up and the regular-rate maths. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. Overtime, premium pay and any tip make-up are computed and **pass through at cost, itemised** on every invoice. **No setup fee, no exit fee.** Contractor onboarding, [EOR payroll](/employer-of-record) and entity graduation all live on one platform: a Maryland contractor who converts to W-2 keeps their record, and that same employee can **graduate** to your own US entity when the model no longer fits without switching systems. Use the [Crossover Calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/crossover-calculator) to see the month the model flips. EOR is the right model for a first Maryland hire, **until it isn't**. Payroll sits alongside the rest of your Maryland obligations: leave on the [paid family and sick leave](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/paid-family-and-sick-leave) page, tax on the [state tax and UI](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/state-income-tax-and-unemployment-insurance) page, and termination on the [termination law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/termination-law-and-at-will-exceptions) page, all on the same [employer of record](/employer-of-record) contract. Teamed Client Operations The Maryland mistake we see most is the county floor. Employers set pay at the state minimum wage rate and forget that Montgomery, Howard and Prince George's run higher, scaled to headcount. Hire there at the state figure and you are underpaying from day one. We check the county against the worksite before the first payslip, then test the duties on any salaried hire, because exemption is where the back-pay bills come from. A note from Tom Price-Daniel Maryland writes a real wage floor, then leans on the federal week for the rest. A $15 minimum, 1.5 times pay after 40 hours, no daily overtime, no general break for adults. The county that pays more than the state and the salaried hire who fails the duties test both generate back-pay. Teamed catches both for [from $599](/pricing) flat. Tom Price-Daniel · Co-founder, Teamed ## Related United States guides - [Maryland paid family and sick leave](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/paid-family-and-sick-leave)sibling - [Maryland state tax and unemployment insurance](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/state-income-tax-and-unemployment-insurance)sibling - [Maryland termination law and at-will exceptions](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/maryland/termination-law-and-at-will-exceptions)sibling - [Hiring in the United States, overview](/country-hiring-guides/united-states)country parent - [Virginia wage and overtime law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/virginia/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law)neighbour - [Delaware wage and overtime law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/delaware/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law)neighbour - [Employer of Record overview](/employer-of-record)core - [Pricing, Zero FX Fixed](/pricing)core - [EOR vs Entity Crossover Calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/crossover-calculator)tool - [Employer cost calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/employer-cost)tool - [Talk to an expert](https://www.teamed.global/contact)CTA A note on this page. This is a guide, not legal advice. Maryland sets a statewide minimum wage under the Fair Wage Act and follows the FLSA for overtime, with no state daily-overtime rule and no general meal or rest break mandate for adults. Montgomery, Howard and Prince George's counties set higher local minimum wages, and the Healthy Retail Employees Act adds break rules for large retail employers. The federal exemption salary threshold sits with the US Department of Labor and can change when a rule is finalised or a court rules. Confirm specific figures with the Maryland Department of Labor, the relevant county, the US Department of Labor or your Teamed US specialist before relying on any number here.