Maine has enacted legislation that will require employers to pay employees for a certain amount of hours if they are asked to report to work and are sent home early. The change is a result of the enactment of Legislative Document 598 and takes effect on Sept. 24, 2025.
The details
Coverage
Legislative Document 598 applies to any employer (as defined here) with at least 10 employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in a calendar year.
The law doesn’t apply to an employee (as defined here) in a seasonal industry, an employee of a public employer, or an employee who is covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Pay for Reporting to Work
On any day an employee reports to work at the request of an employer and the employer cancels or reduces the number of hours in an employee's scheduled shift, the employee must be paid the lesser of:
- Two hours of pay at the employee's regular hourly rate of pay; or
- The total pay for the shift for which the employee was initially scheduled.
An employer that makes a documented good faith effort to notify an employee to not report to work isn’t subject to the requirement.
If the employee reports to work after the employer's attempt to notify the employee was unsuccessful, or if the employer is prevented from notifying the employee, the employee must perform whatever duties the employer assigns when the employee reports to work, as long as the employee is physically able to perform those duties. In such a case, no pay for reporting to work would be required.
However, if the employer doesn’t have any duties to assign to the employee, the employer must pay the employee the applicable pay for reporting to work.
Exceptions
The pay for reporting to work requirement also doesn’t apply if an employee isn’t required to work or is unable to work due to:
- Adverse weather conditions
- A natural disaster or civil emergency
- An illness or medical condition of the employee
- A workplace injury of the employee
Next steps
Covered employers in Maine should ensure that they comply with the pay for reporting to work requirements when applicable.