labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Updating the Maine labor law posters should be on every employer’s to do list as 2008 approaches.

Compared to many other states, Maine requires employers to display only a few posters. California requires employers to provide the most information, with every employer mandated to display a dozen posters. However, there are still a few posters that employers are required to display.

An employer who does not display the proper 2008 Maine labor law posters may face penalties and fines.

The official list of updated 2008 Maine labor law posters is:

• Child Labor/Family Medical Leave/Wage Payment
• Minimum Wage
• Whistleblowers’ Protection Act
• Discrimination Notice
• Video Display Terminal Law
• Workers’ Compensation

In addition, every employer in Maine must display a number of labor law posters required by federal law. For the most part, these posters address statutes that are nationwide. They include:

• USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
• Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
• Federal Minimum Wage
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

Labor law poster serve as a handy reminder for supervisors and employees alike.

They provide important information on the minimum wage, worker safety, medical leave and child labor laws.

Under both federal and state law, these posters must be updated each time there is a change in legislation.

A change in the federal minimum wage on July 24, 2007 required that the Federal Minimum Wage posters be updated. On that date, the federal minimum wage increased for the first time in more than a decade. The rate went from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour, an increase of 70 cents. 

The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour. Kentucky, Indiana, and Nebraska among others follow the federal law. Some offer slightly higher rates – North Carolina at $2.43, Wisconsin at $2.33, Michigan at $2.65, and Massachusetts at $2.63.

Kansas’ rate is only $1.59 an hour for tipped employees.

Washington State offers no tip credit. There, tipped employees will get $8.07 an hour starting January 1. Hawaii’s tip credit is 25 cents. In other words, tipped employees get $7 an hour instead of the usual $7.25. Colorado tipped workers will get $4.02 in 2008.

Federal overtime laws require an overtime premium of 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for every hour over 40. Some states rely on federal law – Florida, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, and Arizona among them. The federal overtime law covers most, but not all, workers.

Nebraska extends both the federal minimum wage and overtime laws to all businesses with 4 or more workers. Kansas requires overtime after a 46-hour week and Minnesota after a 48-hour week.

California offers overtime after working 8 hours in a single day or 40 hours in a week. Employees who must work 7 days consecutively get overtime on the 7^th day, and those working 12 or more hours in a day receive “double time.” Double-time is also offered after 8 hours on the 7^th consecutive working day.

In Kentucky, workers get overtime either after 40 hours, or on the 7^th consecutive day of work regardless of the number of hours they have put in. Colorado workers get overtime after 12 hours a day or 40 hours in a week. In Connecticut, only restaurant and hotel workers get overtime on the 7^th day.

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