LD 38 An Act to Require Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids for Adults Requires insurance plans to provide coverage for hearing aids at a minimum of $3,000 per hearing aid to all individuals with documented hearing loss. (Public Law 19 Chapter 418)
LD 75 An Act to Protect Earned Pay Removes the disqualification for receiving unemployment benefits in current law for a person who receives or is scheduled to receive remuneration in the form of vacation pay in excess of 4 weeks' wages or holiday pay. (Public Law 19 Chapter 419)
LD 81 An Act to Clarify Maine Law Regarding the Tips of Service Employees This bill specifies that tips received by a service employee become the property of that service employee, even when the employer is paying the service employee the full minimum wage and may be shared through a tip pooling arrangement only with other service employees. (Public Law 19 Chapter 10)
LD 139An Act To Address the Unmet Workforce Needs of Employers and To Improve the Economic Future of Workers Repeals the sunset provision in the law to allow the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program to continue. Amends the eligibility criteria to include anyone who is 18 or a high school graduate. (Public Law 19 Chapter 66)
LD 201 An Act To Protect Jobs in the State by Strengthening the Advance Notice Requirement for the Relocation or Closure of a Large Business Changes the notification period from 60 days prior to the closure or relocation to 90 days prior, changes the civil penalty from a maximum $500 fine to a $500 per day fine and it applies this civil penalty to both a failure to notify the Department of Labor and failure to notify the employees and the municipal officers of the municipality where the facility is located. (Public Law 19 Chapter 118)
LD 278An Act Regarding Pay Equality Prohibits an employer from inquiring about a prospective employee's compensation history until after an offer of employment that includes all terms of compensation has been negotiated and made to the prospective employee. An employer that violates this provision is subject to a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 per violation and is also subject to a civil action that may be brought by or on behalf of an affected employee or applicant by the Department of Labor or the affected employee or applicant. (Public Law 19 Chapter 35)
LD 305 An Act to Protect Job Applicants from Identity Theft Prohibits the request of a social security number from a prospective employee by an employer on an employment application or during the application process. Under this bill, an employer may still request a social security number from a prospective employee for purposes of a substance abuse test or preemployment background check, and an employer is not prohibited from asking for a social security number from an individual for any reason after the individual has been hired. This bill will go into effect January 1, 2020. (Public Law 19 Chapter 47)
LD 369 An Act Authorizing Earned Employee Leave Requires an employer, except in a seasonal industry, that employs more than 10 employees for more than 120 days in any calendar year, to permit each employee to earn paid leave based on the employee's base pay. It specifies that an employee is entitled to earn one hour of paid leave from a single employer for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours in one year of employment, with accrual of leave beginning at the start of employment. Effective date for the law is January 1, 2021. (Public Law 19 Chapter 156)
LD 642 An Act Regarding Kindergarten Readiness for Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Provides a process to ensure each child develops a full and fluent first language before the age of five with focus on monitoring the progress children make in English and separately in American Sign Language if that is the language used by the child. The Department of Education is tasked with reporting back to the Committee of jurisdiction and form a task force to address needs of the children. (Public Law 19 Chapter 429)
LD 666 An Act to Protect Pregnant Workers Expands and clarifies protections for pregnant worker by providing that it is unlawful employment discrimination for an employer to fail to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee's pregnancy-related condition, unless provision of an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. As amended, the bill clarifies the definition of "pregnancy-related condition" to provide that the limitation on the pregnant employee's ability to perform the functions of a job due to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lactation, must be known. The amendment revises the description of unlawful employment discrimination to apply to an employer's failure to provide a reasonable accommodation after it has been requested. (Public Law 19 Chapter 490)
LD 733 An Act to Promote Keeping Workers in Maine Seeking to curb the use of non-compete agreements among workers making less than 400% of the federal poverty level, the amended bill restricts the enforceability of non-compete agreements to the extent that they are reasonable and are no broader than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest of the employer, such as trade secrets, confidential information or goodwill. It also adds a presumption that a noncompete agreement is necessary if the legitimate business interest cannot be adequately protected through an alternative restrictive covenant. (Public Law 19 Chapter 513)
LD 777 An Act To Establish the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations Establishes the Permanent Commission to promote, implement and coordinate programs that create and improve opportunities and incorporate the goal of eliminating disparities for historically disadvantaged racial, indigenous and tribal populations in the State. The Department of Labor is housing the Commission and providing minor administrative staffing. (Public Law 19 Chapter 457)
LD 886 An Act To Protect Search and Rescue Volunteers Certified by the Maine Association for Search and Rescue from Adverse Employment Actions Provides the same protections to volunteer search and rescuers for absences from work in responding to search and rescue operations requested by a law enforcement agency as volunteer firefighters receive for absences from work in responding to emergencies. (Public Law 19 Chapter 329)
LD 1013 An Act To Clarify the Disqualification from Unemployment Benefits of a Person Who Is Terminated from Employment for Being Under the Influence of Marijuana Clarifies disqualification from unemployment benefits for a person who is terminated for the use of Marijuana. The burden of proof is on the employer to show the former employee was under the influence while on the job prior to termination.(Public Law 19 Chapter 125)
LD 1017 Resolve, To Direct the Department of Labor To Develop a Framework for Encouraging Employers To Identify Safer Alternatives to Hazardous Chemicals Requires the Department of Labor to develop a framework for identifying hazardous chemicals used in the workplace and for safer alternatives to those chemicals in collaboration with interested parties and employers and employees in industries likely to utilize such hazardous chemicals. Amended Resolve, a Report from the Department to the Joint Standing Committee on Labor and Housing by December 20, 2019 and authorizes the committee to report out a bill based on the report. (Resolve 19 Chapter 47)
LD 1160An Act To Transfer the Kim Wallace Adaptive Equipment Loan Program Fund to the Office of the Treasurer of State Transfers the Kim Wallace Adaptive Equipment Loan Program Fund from the Finance Authority of Maine to the Treasurer of State and allows the Treasurer of State to make disbursements from the fund only upon written direction of the Kim Wallace Adaptive Equipment Loan Program Fund Board; provides funds to establish the fund in the Office of the Treasurer of State. (Public Law 19 Chapter 166)
LD 1282 An Act to Establish a Green New Deal for Maine Amended bill requires-among other provisions--that construction employers constructing grid scale generation facilities hire certain percentages of apprentices to work on the construction beginning in 2021. (Public Law 19 Chapter 347)
LD 1319An Act To Prohibit Employer Disciplinary Action against Firefighters and Emergency Medical Services Persons Responding to an Emergency Extends firefighter protection from employer disciplinary action if absent at beginning of workday due to response to an emergency to a firefighter who leaves work during regular working hours to respond to an emergency and provides the same protections to an emergency medical services person. (Public Law 19 Chapter 218)
LD 1411An Act Regarding the Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Requires the state workforce development plan to be submitted to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over labor matters at the same time the plan is posted for public comment pursuant to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It requires that the appointments of certain members of the State Workforce Board to be reviewed by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over labor matters and to confirmation by the Legislature. Requires the Governor to make federal funds available to the local workforce boards to be used to implement the WIOA within 30 days after the date funds are made available to the Governor. (Public Law 19 Chapter 246)
LD 1524 An Act To 10 Prevent Wage Theft and Promote Employer Accountability Creates additional remedies for wage theft including injunctive relief and cease operations orders. Wage theft is defined as a violation of specific statutes that include the requirements of timely and full payment of wages, payment of wages upon cessation of employment, payments defined as "unfair agreements" and fringe benefits and adds violation of statutes related to minimum wage requirements to the definition. Provides thresholds for the issuing a cease operations order, timing afforded an employer issued a cease operations order and requirements for the Commissioner of Labor or the commissioner's designee to stay a cease operations order. (Public Law 19 Chapter 461)
LD 1564An Act To Authorize Project Labor Agreements for Public Works Projects Allows public authorities (state, municipal, school systems) to enter into project labor agreements for a public works project when it is deemed to be in the public’s interest. The law also repeals an outdated piece of statute that restricted the use of PLAs of projects. (Public Law 19 Chapter 278)
LD 1641 Resolve, To Examine Issues Relating to the School Transportation Workforce Directs the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Labor, to examine comprehensively issues associated with the school transportation workforce, including, but not limited to, determining the best strategies for hiring, training and retaining school transportation personnel. The department is required to submit a report to the two committees by January 1, 2020. (Resolve 19 Chapter 59)
LD 1654 An Act To Create Veteran-friendly Workplaces Requires an employer to allow a veteran to take paid leave or unpaid leave, depending on whether or not the employer offers paid leave, to attend a scheduled appointment at a medical facility operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, as long as the veteran gives the employer notice of the appointment as soon as reasonably possible. (Public Law 19 Chapter 350)
LD 1658 An Act To Clarify the Definition of "Public Works" Under the prevailing wage law, clarifies that "public works" includes any construction projects funded in whole or in part by state funds under contracts of $50,000 or more. (Public Law 19 Chapter 473)
LD 1751 An Act To Amend and Clarify the Laws Concerning American Sign Language Interpreters Amends the laws governing American Sign Language interpreters to update educational requirements, remove the transliterator license category, remove the limited license category, establish a new conditional license category, clarify continuing education requirements and create an inactive license status. (Public Law 19 Chapter 284)
LD 1828 An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Overtime Adds to the list of employees exempted from laws requiring overtime payment those state employees in the executive branch and the judicial branch engaged in fire protection activities and law enforcement activities and conforms state law to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. (Public Law 19 Chapter 387)
Maine Labor Relations Board
LD 317 An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Appointees to the Maine Labor Relations Board Amends the qualifications for certain members and alternates appointed to the Maine Labor Relations Board by the Governor. It requires the member and alternates representing employees not to have worked in a management capacity or represented employer interests in any proceedings at any time during the prior 6 years. It also requires the member and alternates representing the public to not have worked in a management capacity or represented employer interests in any proceedings or have worked for a labor organization or served in a leadership role in a labor organization at any time during the prior 6 years. (Public Law 19 Chapter 184)
LD 1237An Act To Simplify Municipal Collective Bargaining by Removing the 120-Day Notice Required Prior to Certain Negotiations Repeals the requirement that a bargaining agent for municipal public employees submit a written request for collective bargaining to the public employer of those municipal public employees at least 120 days before the conclusion of the current fiscal operating budget. (Public Law 19 Chapter 240)