Tag: Maine

COVID-19

Maine Vaccine Mandate Wins Supreme Court Battle but May Lose the War

Maine can move ahead and enforce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate against designated healthcare employees after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant an injunction to a group of affected workers on Friday, when the statute was supposed to take effect. The employees had challenged the law because it doesn’t allow a religious exemption. 4 Takeaways […]

New year brings new minimum wage, posting requirements in Portland

by Peter Lowe A new year means different things for different people, but for Portland employers, the first of the year means a new hike in the minimum wage along with related posting requirements. The new minimum wage, set at $10.10 per hour for all employees, comes as the result of a municipal ordinance passed […]

Maine Law Court issues groundbreaking discrimination opinion

by Peter D. Lowe and Connor Beatty On Thursday, January 30, Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court issued a groundbreaking and controversial decision. The Law Court ruled that a school district discriminated against one of its students when it told the student she couldn’t use the female restroom because she is transgendered. Although this decision directly affects […]

New Maine law on independent contractors goes into effect December 31

by Peter D. Lowe Maine employers need to pay attention to a new Maine law on the definition of “independent contractor” that goes into effect December 31. Legislative Document 1314, passed in Maine earlier this year, outlines two sets of conditions that must be in place for an individual to qualify as an independent contractor […]

Maine passes gay marriage initiative

by Peter D. Lowe On Tuesday, 53 percent of Mainers voted to allow same-sex marriage. Question 1, which asked “Do you want to allow the State of Maine to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,” was an indirect initiative. That means that because supporters collected the required number of signatures by January 2012 and the […]

Maine Tightens Up Law on Service Animals

Until recently, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations were quite broad in their definition of “service animal,” but that changed earlier this year. Now Maine, which had kept the definition loose in state law, also is tightening up on what constitutes a service animal. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations not only for employees with disabilities […]

Federal Inactivity Continues to Spark State Immigration Action

A federal judge blocked parts of Arizona’s new immigration law on Wednesday, the day before the rest of the measure went into effect. But legal challenges are already flying and many are waiting to see what happens next. Last year, a record number of immigration-related laws were considered and passed in the 50 states. Over […]

Medical Marijuana Compassionate Use Laws Among 2010 Legislative Actions

by Lorraine Yeomans The 2010 state legislative sessions have kicked off across the nation, and one of the first pieces of legislation to be signed into law this year was a bill legalizing the use of medical marijuana. On January 18, as one of his last acts before leaving office, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine […]

Making the case to keep human resources

Making the Case for Keeping HR

In today’s world of corporate belt-tightening and budget cutbacks, you might find yourself wondering whether the expense of an HR staff is actually justified by the benefits. After all, HR doesn’t create revenue for the company — it doesn’t operate the machinery that produces the widgets, and it doesn’t drive sales. In fact, the perception […]