The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) is now accepting public comment on a proposed set of rules for the state’s newly-created Paid Family and Medical Leave Program.
This past summer, Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a budget into law that, among other things, established the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program with a starting appropriation of $25 million.
Beginning in the Spring of 2026, Maine workers will be eligible to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member, as well as to bond with a newborn baby or newly-adopted child.
Also eligible for leave are those experiencing a serious health condition who are rendered unable to work for an extended period.
Click Here for More Information on the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program
Under the budget legislation approved in 2023, an employee’s weekly benefit amount for this program is to be calculated relative to the average amount of their typical paycheck.
The per-employee premium that must be paid by businesses to fund this benefit is statutorily capped at 1 percent of their wages. Employers are permitted to ask workers to contribute up to 50 percent of this cost.
Businesses responsible for more than 15 employees must cover the other 50 percent of the premium themselves, while smaller businesses are only required to turn over the 50 percent paid by their workers.
Also encoded in the law is guidance for the program’s applicability to self-employed individuals, explaining that they may opt into the program and, if they choose to do so, would be responsible for paying the same 50 percent premium contributed by small businesses.
It is also specified in the law that upon return to work, an employee must be reinstated to the same — or a suitably-equivalent — position.
Click Here to Read the 2023 Budget Legislation
Although many of the major structural elements of this program were already outlined by the Legislature, the MDOL’s recently released set of rules goes into greater detail with respect to the relevant administrative processes.
The MDOL has proposed that in order to submit a claim under this program, employees must send the government a range of documents, including official personal identification and proof from a health care provider of the medical condition underlying the request for paid leave.
The applicant’s employer would then be asked to submit any additional information regarding the their eligibility for leave, including if the employee’s requested time off would constitute an “undue hardship.”
If the employer’s “undue hardship” claim is found to be valid — but the employee’s application for paid leave would otherwise have been approved — the government would give the parties two weeks to work out a suitable arrangement.
Should they fail to reach an agreement, however, a schedule for leave would be provided to them by the program administrator that would not be subject to further review.
Employees who are denied their request for paid leave under this program would be given 15 days from the receipt of notification to request reconsideration. Claims that are denied upon reconsideration are then eligible for further appeal.
Click Here to Read the MDOL’s Full Set of Proposed Rules
When signed into law by Mills in 2023, Maine became the thirteenth state in the country to adopt a mandatory paid family and medical leave program.
Members of the public may submit feedback on the MDOL’s proposed rules from now until July 8, either by mail to 50 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333 or through a link on the MDOL website that can be found here.
The MDOL will also accept comment in person on June 10 at 9am in the Frances Perkins Room located at 45 Commerce Drive in Augusta.
Click Here to Read the MDOL’s Full Press Release Requesting Public Comment
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="28074 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=28074">2 Comments
These people have no business sense at all.
12 weeks?!
So if the job is as an engineer or doctor, who replaces them as temps?
In non technical jobs, someone will have to be trained by the companies, costing time and money. Then they work for 3 months at a high rate, because the temp agencies get a hefty fee.
Then they lose that job after 3 months.
Maine has become hostile to companies that offer good paying jobs then whines they can’t attract any and that young people aren’t staying in state.
Then they bring in illegals who are mostly uneducated and will never work more than minimum wage jobs if they work at all and the state thinks its problems will go away when in fact they’re compounding them.
Lets have some more inflation, more taxes, bs