Legislation of Interest
LD398
An Act to Make Agricultural Workers and Other Related Workers Employees Under the Wage and Hour Laws
Summary: This bill provides that agricultural employees and seasonal farm employees are subject to the laws that place limits on mandatory overtime. It also provides that agricultural employees are subject to the laws that set a minimum wage and overtime rate. It provides that the laws that set an overtime rate apply to certain activities related to agricultural produce, meat and fish products and perishable foods. The bill phases in overtime pay for individuals employed in agriculture and certain activities related to agriculture.
LD525
An Act to Protect Farm Workers by Allowing Them to Organize for the Purposes of Collective Bargaining
Summary:
1. Gives employees of agricultural employers the right to bargain collectively;
2. Specifies the parties’ mutual obligation to bargain;
3. Creates procedures for determining bargaining units and bargaining agents, including procedures for appeal of such determinations; and
4. Prohibits specified acts of agricultural employers, agricultural employees and agricultural labor organizations and provides for enforcement of those prohibitions by the Maine Labor Relations Board and subsequently through civil action in Superior Court.
LD43
An Act to Reduce the Cost of Electricity by Removing the 100-megawatt Limit on Renewable Resources of Energy
Summary: This bill removes the 100-megawatt maximum capacity limit for a source of electrical generation to qualify as a renewable resource for purposes of meeting the State’s renewable resource portfolio requirement.
LD301
An Act to Exempt Employers From Providing Earned Paid Leave for Certain Employees
Summary: This bill exempts substitute teachers, other substitute employees, coaches and temporary employees in school administrative units and part-time or temporary employees in a retail trade or a service-related industry from being covered by the law that requires employers to offer earned paid leave to employees.
LR482
An Act to Ensure Access for All Caregivers to Diaper Changing Stations in Public Restrooms
LR670
An Act to Establish a Paid Family and Medical Leave System
LD513
An Act Regarding Overtime Protections For Certain Maine Workers
Summary: This bill annually raises the minimum salary that an employee who works in an executive, administrative or professional capacity must earn in order for that employee to be exempt from the laws governing the minimum wage and overtime pay until it is, when converted to an annual rate, greater than 4,500 times the State’s minimum hourly wage on January 1, 2026. It provides that the overtime pay requirement applicable to employees of nonprofit corporations may be met through compensatory time agreements. It directs the Department of Labor to adopt routine technical rules, including rules regarding compensatory time for employees of nonprofit corporations.
LD324
An Act to Prevent the Wrongful Firing of Maine Workers
Summary: This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208. This bill proposes to enact the Secure Jobs Act, which establishes a framework for employee discipline and discharge, prohibits the unjust discharge of an employee, requires employers to use progressive discipline measures, limits the use of electronic monitoring, provides for severance pay, provides remedies for wrongfully discharged employees and authorizes the recovery of damages.
LD116
An Act to Establish A Minimum Wage For All Health Care Workers Including All Support Staff
Summary: This bill provides that, beginning January 1, 2024, the minimum wage for individuals employed by or who work in a health care facility is $15.00 per hour.
LD559
An Act to Increase The Number of Hours Certain Minor Students May Work Under Certain Circumstances
Summary: This bill allows a minor 16 years of age or older and under 18 years of age enrolled in school to work up to 32 hours per week if the minor participates in an equivalent instruction program or home instruction program or is absent from school for more than two days in any given school week due to an alternative schedule approved by a school administrative unit superintendent.
LD571
An Act to Develop Maine’s Entry-level Workforce
Summary: This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208. This bill would amend the statutes, and require the amendment of relevant rules, that inhibit or prevent individuals who are 16 or 17 years of age from entering the workforce to make it less burdensome on those individuals to find employment and for businesses to hire those individuals.