Employers can pay tipped workers half minimum wage
SP 235: An Act To Restore the Tip Credit to Maine's Minimum Wage Law: An employer may consider tips as part of the wages of a service employee, but such a tip credit may not exceed 50% of the minimum hourly wage established in this section.Summary
by Associated Building Contractors of Maine: Voters approved a referendum to raise the state's minimum wage gradually to $12 by 2020. Some critics worried about the elimination of the tip credit, which exempted employers from paying tipped
workers the minimum wage. This bill restores the tip credit and allows employers to pay tipped employees half the state's minimum wage. It was seen as a compromise for Democrats, who supported the wage increase, and Republicans, who had concerns about
what it might mean for certain businesses.
Legislative outcome:Passed Senate 23-12-0; Roll Call #246; Jun/7/17; Passed House 110-37-4; Roll Call #302; Jun/13/17; Signed by Governor Paul LePage, Jun/23/17
Allow employer's access to employee social media accounts
Maine bill HP 640/L.D. 921: An Act To Strengthen the Right of a Victim of Sexual Assault or Domestic Violence To Take Necessary Leave from Employment and To Promote Employee Social Media Privacy.
Summary by Littler-Mendelson P.C.:
Maine has now enacted legislation that restricts an employer's ability to demand information regarding an employee's or job applicant's social media account. The Act expressly prohibits employers from requiring or requesting an employee or job applicant
provide the employer with the password or other means of accessing his or her social media accounts. Governor LePage attempted to veto 65 bills including the Act. Maine lawmakers argued that the Governor missed the veto deadline; the Maine Supreme
Judicial Court ruled that all 65 bills had become law.
Legislative outcome:Passed House 83-60-8, Roll Call #136 on Jun/2/15; Passed Senate 35-0-0, Roll Call #127 on Jun/3/15; Vetoed by Governor Paul LePage Jul/16/15
As L.L. Bean announced it will close its Bangor call center and Verizon Wireless said it would add 90 customer service employees, Gov. Paul LePage made a visit to a third call center. The Nexxlinx call center in Orono employs about 350 people. The site
director told the governor, who was invited to tour the facility, that the center has 100 job openings and cannot find enough qualified employees to fill them. "Are they the jobs we want? No," LePage told a cluster of reporters after his tour, referring
to lower-wage jobs such as those at call centers.
The starting wage at NexxLinx is between $8.50 and $9 per hour, plus incentives. That amounts to about $19,000 per year for employees who work 40 hours per week.
"People can cry and holler all they
want, but if we don't reduce energy costs, we're going to have two Maines," LePage said. The other Maine, he said, is in the south, where there are higher-wage jobs. [A Nexxlink spokesman said the issue was finding good workers, not energy costs.]
Vetoed incrementally raising the state's minimum wage
The Democrats' list of most vulnerable incumbent governors includes Maine's Paul LePage, Michigan's Rick Snyder and Wisconsin's Scott Walker, [on the minimum wage issue]. Florida's Rick Scott and Ohio's John Kasich might be
insulated because their states' laws boost minimum wage with inflation.
All of those governors won a first term in the national Republican sweep of 2010, and most have had strong Republican representation in their legislatures to support them.
But LePage was tasked with facing a Democrat-controlled legislature, and in July he vetoed a bill to incrementally raise the state's minimum wage.
For his likely Democratic challenger, Rep. Mike Michaud, increasing the minimum wage is an issue the
onetime paper mill worker from northern Maine discusses often, said a campaign adviser. "He is closely aligned with working- and middle-class families," Farmer said. "He's not a millionaire.
Reduce red tape for permitting for principled job creators
With LD 1, we reduced red tape, and improved our permitting process for businesses. Maine hospitals are now paid in real time for the services they provide. Principled job creators know that my administration wants to help, and my door is always open.
You want to create a job; I want to be there to help.
However, let me be clear, I am not interested in helping those who increase the cost of living on Maine people for personal financial gain. Unemployment is down in Maine, lower than the national
average. We are focusing our efforts on branding the State of Maine, recognizing that Maine made products embody quality and value. Government is becoming more transparent. We exposed the wasteful use of Mainers tax dollars at agencies such as the
Maine Turnpike Authority and Maine State Housing Authority. We not only exposed it--we cleaned it up. We have more to do!