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Maine Legislative Update - Employment and Labor Laws - the 123rd Legislature Adjourns. Summer is finally here and that means barbecues, vacations and, yes, new laws for employers. Maine's 123rd Legislature adjourned its first regular session on Thursday, June 22, 2007. Employers should be aware of several new laws that were enacted during the session.
Non-emergency laws passed this session will take effect on Thursday, September 20, 2007. Unless indicated, the laws discussed below are non-emergency laws.
Changes to Maine's Family and Medical Leave Act
1. An Act to Clarify Intermittent Leave Under the Family Medical Leave Laws (LD 1261; PL 233):
Maine's Family and Medical Leave Act was amended to allow employees to take intermittent leave as they are allowed to do under federal law. In effect this amendment will mean that employees who meet the eligibility requirements under Maine law will still be entitled to take up to 10 workweeks of family medical leave in any 2 years but they will now be entitled to take the leave intermittently. As a result, employers will be required to allow eligible employees to work a schedule that reduces the usual number of hours per workweek, or hours per workday as part of an employee's family medical leave.
Maine's Family and Medical Leave Act applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
2. An Act to Assist Maine Military Families (LD 256; PL 388):
This law amended two different Maine laws regarding families and military leave.
The Family and Medical Leave Act was amended to provide leave for the death or serious health condition of an employee's spouse, domestic partner, parent or child if the family member is in the military and dies or develops a serious health condition while on active duty.
Maine's Family Military Leave law was amended to require that employers of 15 or more employees provide eligible employees 15 days of family military leave per deployment. The law formerly required that employers of 50 or more grant family military leave.
3. An Act to Amend the Family and Medical Leave Laws (LD 375; PL 261):
Maine's Family and Medical Leave Act was amended to require that employers grant an eligible employee a leave for the birth of a domestic partner's child, the adoption of a child by a domestic partner, or the serious health condition of a domestic partner or domestic partner's child. Under the law a domestic partner must have been legally domiciled with the employee for at least 12 months, be the sole partner of the employee and expect to remain so, and must be jointly responsible with the employee for each other's common welfare as evidenced by joint living arrangements, joint financial arrangements or joint ownership of real or personal property. A domestic partner may not be a sibling.
The Definition of Disability
1. An Act to Clarify the Definition of "Physical or Mental Disability" in the Maine Human Rights Act (LD 1027; PL 385):
This legislation clarifies the definition of disability in the wake of the 2006 Whitney v. Wal- Mart decision, which invalidated Maine Human Rights Commission regulations and broadened the definition of disability.
The new definition is still broader than the federal definition, but hopefully better than the definition left after Wal-Mart. The definition includes a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities; significantly impairs physical or mental health; or requires special education, vocational rehabilitation or related services. The new law includes a long list of specific conditions which are automatically treated as a disability such as cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and mental retardation. The law also specifically excludes certain conditions from the definition of a disability such as pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual behavior disorders, compulsive gambling, kleptomania, pyromania, tobacco smoking, sexual orientation, or current use of illegal use of drugs (unless seeking rehabilitation as a reasonable accommodation).
This legislation contains an emergency preamble. As such, it became effective on June 21, 2007 when it was signed by the Governor.
Other Laws Enacted this Session
1. An Act to Protect Fair Share Workers from Termination (LD 1915; PL 415):
This amendment specifies that public employees (including state and legislative employees, university, academy and community college employees and judicial employees) may not be required to join a union, labor organization or bargaining agent and may not be terminated for nonpayment of any service fee. The amendment does permit the public employer to deduct service fees from the pay of unit members who do not join the union provided the deduction does not exceed 10% of the employee's gross pay.
Holdover Bills to Watch
Other bills were introduced this session that will be carried over to January and considered in the next legislative session. Those bills include:
1. An Act to Simplify Standards for Determining Independent Contractor Status for Unemployment Compensation Purposes (LD 1345):
This bill would change the definition of "independent contractor" for unemployment purposes so that it would be consistent with the definition of that term under the laws governing workers' compensation. The bill would also authorize the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation to issue a predetermination of independent contractor status.
2. An Act to Ensure Fair Wages (LD 1697):
This bill would increase the minimum wage to $7.70 per hour in 2008 and to $8.40 per hour in 2009. The bill also would change the tip credit, which is currently 50% of the state minimum wage, to $3 per hour.
Note: The federal minimum wage will increase from $5.15 to $5.85 on July 24, 2007.
3. An Act to Care For Working Families (LD 1454):
This bill would require employers to pay each employee a minimum of 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to 72 hours or 9 days annually. The paid sick leave provided for in this bill would be available to care for family members as well. If this bill passes, Maine will be the only state that requires paid leave.
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