| Fair Employment Practices | Employers are prohibited from treating employees differently based on protected characteristics under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), which applies to all employers. These characteristics include race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, familial status, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, status as a victim of domestic violence, and the assertion of a Workers' Compensation claim or right in the past.
Retaliation against someone who has reported discrimination participated in a discrimination investigation, or objected to a breach of the MHRA is prohibited under the act. Regarding sexual harassment regulations and procedures, the MHRA is harsher than federal legislation. |
| Discussion of Wages | According to Maine's Equal Give Law, employers must give employees the same salaries as other workers of the opposite sex for comparable work in terms of ability, effort, and responsibility. |
| Equal Pay | According to the Equal Pay Law, an employer may not stop a worker from talking or asking about the earnings of other workers as long as the inquiry or disclosure is made to uphold legal rights. |
| Pregnancy Accommodation | Unless doing so would place an undue hardship on the employer's business, an employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's pregnancy or condition connected to pregnancy. |
| Access to Personnel Files | Present and past employees have the right to see and obtain a copy of their personnel records. Upon written request, employees are entitled to one complimentary copy of their personnel file per calendar year. |
| Whistleblower Protections | The Maine Whistleblowers' Protection Act (MWPA) forbids retaliation against employees who participate in protected activities, such as but not limited to reporting a violation, reporting a condition or practice that poses a risk to health or safety, taking part in an investigation, hearing, or inquiry conducted by a public body or court, refusing to carry out a directive to engage in any activity that would violate that law or that may cause serious injury or death. |
| Ban the Box | The prohibition on the box statute in Maine restricts the use of pre-employment criminal history checks. Before deciding whether a person is otherwise eligible for the position, an employer cannot require criminal history information on an initial employment application form or state on an application form or advertisement that a person with a criminal past may not apply or would not be considered. |
| Credit Checks | The federal Fair Credit and Reporting Act is consistent with Maine's Fair Credit Reporting Act's employment regulations. |
| Drug Testing | An employer must either have a state-approved drug testing program or test workers per federal law to provide drug tests. |
| Salary History Inquiry Restrictions | Until a job offer that includes all terms of compensation has been negotiated and made to the prospective employee, Maine law prohibits an employer from using or requesting information about the prospective employee's compensation history from the prospective employee or a prospective or former employer of the prospective employee. An employer may check the potential employee's salary history after making a job offer. |
| Minimum Wage | Maine's hourly minimum wage is $13.80. |
| Overtime | For all hours worked exceeding 40 in a workweek, nonexempt employees must be paid at a rate equivalent to one and a half times their regular hourly rate. The regular rate comprises all wages, bonuses, commissions, and other remuneration received or due but excludes any things covered by the federal Fair Labour Standards Act that are not considered regular rates under state law. |
| Rest Breaks | mployees who put in more than six hours straight must be given the option of a 30-minute rest break, which can be either paid or unpaid. |
| Breastfeeding Breaks | Nursing moms who wish to express their milk must be given sufficient unpaid breaks or allowed to do so during a paid meal or break periods. |
| Child Labor | All minors are prohibited from working in Maine in any dangerous job to their health, morality, or lives. Minors under sixteen are not allowed to work in additional jobs. |
| Health Care Continuation | Maine's healthcare continuation law covers employers with fewer than 20 employees. If group health insurance is discontinued due to a member or employee losing their job temporarily or permanently due to an illness or injury they believe is compensable under workers' compensation, it offers up to 12 months of continuous coverage. |
| Wage Deductions | Pay deductions may be made by an employer for several predetermined reasons, such as loans, debts, or salary advances; purchases of company goods; benefits offered by the employer; or, in some cases, the expense of purchasing and maintaining uniforms. |
| Family and Medical Leave | An employer who employs 15 or more people in a single location must comply with the Maine Family and Medical Leave Act (MFMLA). For the following reasons: the birth of a child, adoption of a child 16 years of age or younger, serious illness of the employee or a covered family member, organ donation, and death or serious health condition of a covered family member that occurs while they are on active military duty, eligible employees may take up to 10 weeks of unpaid leave in two years. |
| Other Time Off Requirements | Other leave and time off laws, such as paid leave, family military leave, jury duty leave, domestic violence leave, state legislators leave, emergency responder leave, search-and-rescue volunteer leave, public health emergency leave, military leave, time off for veterans to attend medical appointments and day of rest requirements, must also be complied with by Maine employers in addition to the MFMLA. |
| Smoke-Free Workplace | A documented policy outlawing smoking indoors must be established by an employer under the Workplace Smoking Act. |
| Weapons in the Workplace | In Maine, an employer may allow an employee with a valid concealed weapons permit to keep a weapon in a secured, privately owned vehicle in a parking lot or garage designated for employees only. The ownership of firearms and other weapons is not permitted by law in the workplace, or company-owned cars, but employers are free to do so. |
| Safe Driving Practices | Except in certain situations, operating a motor vehicle on a public road while using, manipulating, talking into, or otherwise interacting with a portable electronic device or cell phone is illegal. |
| Final Pay | Employees who leave their job, whether freely or involuntarily, are often entitled to receive full compensation no later than their next normal payday or within two weeks of their final payment demand.
In principle, all accrued vacation pay must be paid to a terminated employee in full by the next regular payday. |
