Maryland restaurant execs, groups oppose minimum wage increase

Although state legislators argue increasing Maryland’s minimum wage could improve the standard of living for low-wage workers, some restaurateurs worry it could impact their businesses for worse.

Currently, Maryland’s minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour — $3.63 for tipped workers. A General Assembly measure — Senate Bill 683, along with companion bill House Bill 1204 — would increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2015. Tipped workers would have to be paid 70 percent of the minimum…