Maine is set to raise its minimum wage is to $15.10 per hour statewide beginning on January 1 of next year. In conjunction with this, the tip wage — also known as the tip credit — will also be increased to $7.55.
The tip credit is a policy that allows businesses to pay employees below minimum wage so long as the workers make enough in tips to at least close the gap.
Maine’s minimum hourly wage has been pegged to the broader economy since 2016, the result of statewide referendum approved nine years ago.
Although this referendum also eliminated the state’s tip wage, it was quickly reinstated by lawmakers and former Gov. Paul LePage (R) in 2017.
Because the cost of living has shot up by 3.1 percent since this same time last year, Maine’s minimum wage will be increasing accordingly, rising by 45 cents from the current rate of $14.65.
A statement released by the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) Thursday explains that this minimum wage will now apply to agricultural workers, as Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a bill into law in June extending minimum wage laws to cover workers in this industry.
Also accompanying this change is the increase the minimum salary threshold at which salaried workers are exempt from overtime laws. Beginning on January 1, this threshold will be raised to $871.16 per week, or $45,300.32 per year.
This, however, is not the only factor contributing to overtime eligibility, so someone earning more than this may still be eligible to receive overtime compensation.
[RELATED: Judge Blocks New DOL Rule for “White-Collar” Overtime — “Something Has Gone Seriously Awry”]
While $15.10 will soon become the statewide minimum wage, municipalities are given the freedom to set the bar even higher for businesses located within their boundaries.
Portland, for example, currently has a minimum wage that is just under a dollar more that the statewide standard.
In addition to this, its City Council voted earlier this month to send a proposal to residents that would see it rise to $19 per hour by 2028.
At that point, the minimum wage would continue to increase in conjunction with the cost of living in the same manner that it does now.
[RELATED: Portland Residents to Consider Minimum Wage Hikes]
Although the proposal considered by the Council originally would have raised Portland’s minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2029, this increase was removed in the final version.
Portland’s current minimum wage has already been indexed to inflation, but some argued before the Council that the base rate is insufficient to sustain the cost of living.
Others representing local business have highlighted concerns over the impact that rapidly increasing the cost of labor would have on employers’ ability to keep their doors open.
In 2020, Portland voters approved a referendum increasing the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. This policy, which took effect in 2021, cannot be amended for five years except by another referendum.
Around this same time last year, the Portland City Council rejected a nearly identical proposal that would have raised the minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2028.
This referendum will appear on Portland voters’ ballots this November alongside two statewide referendum questions: one pertaining to voter ID and other election laws, the other focused on bringing “red flag” style gun control to Maine.
