The Kids Go Back to School: New Maine Laws go into effect on September 12, 2009

November 13, 2009

Laws passed during the most recent legislative session go into effect on September 12, 2009 (unless otherwise noted below). Several of these laws will have a direct impact on Maine's employers. Employers should take note of the following:

New Laws:

1. An Act To Amend the Statute of Limitations under the Maine Human Rights Act (LD 1108; PL 235).

This law amends the Maine Human Rights Act by enlarging the time period in which a complaint must be filed with the Commission from 6 months to 300 days after the date of unlawful discrimination. The law was also amended to require the Maine Human Rights Commission to conclude its investigation of a complaint within 2 years of the alleged act of discrimination and changed the time frame to file a lawsuit from 2 years after the alleged act of discrimination to 90 days after the issuance of a right-to-sue letter. These changes track federal discrimination law.

2. An Act To Ensure Fair Pay (LD 84; PL 29).

This law amends the equal pay statute and provides that an employer may not prohibit an employee from disclosing the employee's own wages or from inquiring about another employee's wages if the purpose of the disclosure or inquiry is to enforce the rights granted by the equal pay statute.

3. An Act To Facilitate Lactation at the Workplace by New Mothers (LD 373; PL 84).

This law requires that employers provide adequate unpaid break time or permit an employee to use paid break time or meal time each day to express breast milk for her nursing child for up to 3 years following childbirth. The law further requires the employer to make reasonable efforts to provide a clean room or other location, other than a bathroom, where an employee may express breast milk in privacy and prohibits discrimination against an employee who chooses to express breast milk in the workplace.

4. An Act To Increase Child Support Collection by Expanding the New Hire Reporting Requirements (LD 300; PL 198).

An extension of the colloquially known "Dead - Beat Dads" law, this legislation requires employers to report to the Department of Labor when they contract with an independent contractor when it is anticipated that the independent contractor will make $2,500 or more.

The employer must report the following information within 7 days of the earlier of first making payments of $2,500 or more to an independent contractor or entering into a contract(s) with an independent contractor providing for payments of $2,500 or more:

- The independent contractor's name, address and social security number;
- The employer's name, business name, address and telephone number;
- The employer's social security number, employment security reference number or unified business identifier number;
- The date the contract is executed, or, if no contract, the date the payments in the aggregate first equal or exceed $2,500; and
- The total dollar amount of the contract, if any, and the contract expiration date.

The employer may report by sending the Department of Labor a copy of the employer's IRS 1099.

The information will be used to track parents who owe child support. However, it is possible that the Department of Labor and Maine Revenue Service may also use the information to ensure that employers are properly designating independent contractors. Employers should make sure that their independent contractors are not actually employees under the law.

5. An Act To Ensure Fair Calculation of Severance Pay for Maine Workers (LD 1469; PL 305).

Note - This legislation was enacted on an emergency basis and therefore took effect when signed into law on June 8, 2009. The law applies retroactively to March 31, 2009.

This law amended Maine's severance pay law by adding a new provision regarding mass layoffs. The law requires that an employer that lays off 100 or more employees reports the duration of the layoff to the director of the Bureau of Labor Standards within 7 days. The director will then require the employer to report information relevant to a determination of whether the layoff constitutes a layoff or relocation or whether the affected employees will be recalled within a reasonable time.

6. An Act To Amend the Employment Practices Law Regarding Substance Abuse Testing (LD 549; PL 133).

This law amends Maine's Substance Abuse Testing law. It provides that employers using substance abuse testing may use tests that have been recognized by the federal Food and Drug Administration as accurate and reliable through a clearance or approval process. It also, directs the use of that agency's cleared or approved cutoff levels and procedures if the Department of Health and Human Services cutoff levels or procedures do not exist for the particular test.

7. An Act To Strengthen the Workplace Smoking Laws and Other Laws Governing Smoking (LD 1429; PL 300).

This law amended Maine law regarding second hand smoke by prohibiting designated smoking areas indoors in places of employment and providing a definition of permitted outdoor designated smoking areas; repealing the laws on smoking in hospitals, nursing homes and jury rooms that differed from the public place and workplace laws; clarifying the laws governing workplace smoking to define "business facility" to include a private residence or unit or apartment within a residential facility during the period of time that the private residence or unit or apartment is a place of employment; and clarifying that "residential facility" means a facility licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Legislation Not Passed:

Employers may breathe a sigh of relief that the following bills were not passed during the last session, however, they will likely be revisited in sessions to come:

1. An Act To Require Cause for Employment Termination (LD 1185).

This bill would have prevented an employer from terminating an employee without good cause and would have done away with the at - will employment doctrine in the state of Maine. This bill was defeated during the session but could be reintroduced in some other form in years to come.

2. An Act To Index the State Minimum Wage to Inflation (LD 192).

This bill would have required the state minimum hourly wage to be adjusted for inflation beginning January 1, 2010 and annually thereafter based on changes in the consumer price index. This bill was tabled and will be considered during the next session.


For more information regarding this client alert, please contact Sarah E. Newell at 207-947-0111 for further information.

This alert is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.