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.

I hope the following information helps with some of the questions you might have about labor laws and requirements for Maine Posters to help keep you within state and federal guidelines. Keep in mind that it is the employer’s responsibility to make sure that the labor law information available to workers is the most current and to make sure that this information is displayed clearly in a place where employees gather or a common area where workers pass through on a regular basis. I would suggest the lunchroom or break room at the work site or place of business, which generally has the most traffic. An excellent way to do this is to display the most up-to-date Maine Posters.

State requirements in Maine include Child Labor/Family Medical Leave/ Wage Payment, Minimum Wage, Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, Discrimination Notice, Video Display Terminal Law, and Workers’ Compensation. Among these, the Video Display Terminal Law has been in effect in Maine since 1991, requiring all employers to establish education and training for all Video Display Terminal operators. There are specific guidelines on how this is to be done, depending on the number of terminals at the job site or in the office. This information can be very important and having the current Maine Posters displayed will ensure that employees receive the information they need about their rights on the job.

In addition, Maine is one of the states that has a separate Whistleblowers’ Protection Act designed to protect those who report violations, unsafe work conditions, illegal practices and so on. Again, workers need to know about the protections under this law and having new Maine Posters is an excellent way to make sure that they do know. Federal posting requirements 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, and OSHA – Job Safety & Health Protection.

USERRA is relatively new and is a federal law designed to balance the needs of the employer while encouraging non-career military service. The law also states that those who serve in the armed forces, reserves, or National Guard can return to their civilian job after their military service ends. It is always a good time for workers and employers to check the Maine Posters on display to determine if they are up to date. With current posters, not only do employees have access to the most current information on labor laws and rights in the work place, but the employer also complies with state and federal guidelines and has the correct Maine Posters on display in the event of a labor inspection or audit.

If you ask me, it would be a difficult task to make sure that every single employee in the entire state of Maine is aware of the ins and outs of all the labor laws that exist. But, in a certain sense, that’s what the Department of Labor expects to do. They are able to accomplish this by requiring all the employers in the state to display what is known as Maine ( ME ) Employment Labor Posters. These posters have the all the relevant labor laws printed on them. By posting them in a place that all employees can see them, like the break room, lunch room, or mail room, an employer is able to educated the employees in the various aspects of labor laws.

The laws that are required to be posted in Maine are: Child Labor/Family Medical Leave/Wage Payment Law, Minimum Wage Law, Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, Discrimination Notice, Video Display Terminal Law, and the Workers’ Compensation Law.

Those are the state requirements for employment labor posters. Next let’s talk about the Federal posting requirements, because the Federal government has their own requirements as well. These include the following posters: 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, and OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection.

Everyone has a responsibility with regard to these Maine Employment Labor Posters. The employer has the responsibility to post them and to keep abreast of what the current laws are. He or she must replace them often because the laws are constantly being reviewed and updated. Employees have the responsibility to read and understand the posters, and to take note when they’ve been updated so they can fully follow the scope of the laws.

The Maine State Mandatory Posters required by the Department of Labor for placement into every business that employs people are a requirement that you, as a business owner, do not want to miss. These posters, as simple as they sound, happen to be one of the most vital ways that your employees stay educated about the laws of this state. We provide these posters so that they know how to gather the necessary information they need and how to use it successfully. In addition, the posters provide a great deal of help with keeping employers following the necessary laws as well.

One current concern with the Maine State Mandatory Posters that you should know about is about minimum wage. As you may have heard, the federal government, through Congress, is considering passing a law that would increase the minimum wage throughout the country. This law may or may not make it through. Currently, Maine’s minimum wage is set at $6.50. There is also an amendment that says that if the federal government increases the minimum wage rate that the state of Maine will replace theirs with the federal level. Yet, this can not be more than $1 per hour more than what the current state level is set at.

How does this relate to the posters you are required to provide? It is necessary for you as a business owner to realize that when laws change, your posters much change too. Although many do not realize the need to update their Maine State Mandatory Posters, this is quite important to do. If you do not have the most up to date posters available, you are not in compliance with the laws of the state and that can cause problems for you. It is necessary for you to insure that you have these posters in this condition. Therefore, take the time to make sure that any updates that happened in 2005 or prior are ones that your poster depicts.

Employers throughout Maine are required to display the labor law posters for Maine in their businesses. The required state and federal postings depend on the type and size of the business. The labor law posters for Maine must be displayed in an area where all employees will be able to easily see them. They also need to be where employees are known to gather. For larger businesses it may be necessary to display the labor law posters for Maine in more than one location.

The labor law posters for Maine don’t need to be updated every year. In fact, they only need to be changed when there is a change in the law. For example, one of the required postings is the Minimum Wage poster. On October 1, 2005, the minimum wage in Maine increased to $6.25 an hour. Therefore, employers needed to make sure they changed that particular poster so that it contained the correct information.

The other required state postings for the labor law posters for Maine are the Whistleblower’s Protection Act, the Video Display Terminal Poster, Workers’ Compensation, Regulation of Employment, Child Labor Laws and Occupational Safety and Health Regulations. Again, not every poster is required in all businesses. For example, the Occupational and Health Regulations is only required in public sector workplaces.

The optional state postings for the labor law posters for Maine are the Maine Human Rights – Equal Employment Rights poster, the Equal Pay Poster, and the Domestic Violence in the Workplace Poster. The Maine Employment Security Act poster must be displayed in any business that must pay the Maine unemployment tax.

Employers need to make sure they always display the state and federal labor law posters for Maine in the appropriate areas. The employers also must ensure that they display the most up-to-date posters. Failure to do either of these is against the law.