Maine Implements Reporting Time Pay and Updates Earned Paid Leave

Beginning September 24, 2025, the following employment laws take effect:

Reporting Time Pay

Employers with 10 or more employees will need to pay nonexempt employees for reporting to work when the employer cancels or reduces the hours they were scheduled to work. In these cases, the employee must be paid the lesser of:

• Two hours of pay at their regular hourly rate of pay

• The total pay for their scheduled shift

An employer doesn't have to pay if an employee's hours are canceled or shortened due to any of the following:

• Adverse weather conditions

• A natural disaster

• A civil emergency

• An employee's illness or medical condition

• An employee's workplace injury

Employers won't owe reporting time pay if they made a documented, good faith, and successful attempt to notify the employee not to report to work. If the employee arrives before the employer can reach them, the employer can assign any available duties the employee is physically able to perform—or, if no work is available, send them home and provide reporting time pay.

Earned Paid Leave

Employers with 11 or more employees have to allow employees to accrue up to 40 hours of earned paid leave each benefit year, no matter how many unused hours are carried over. Previously, carryover hours could count against the accrual limit in the new benefit year. This update means employee leave balances may now exceed 40 hours—for example, 40 hours of accrued leave in the current benefit year plus 40 hours of carryover. However, current regulations still allow employers to cap usage at 40 hours per benefit year. It's unclear whether Maine's Department of Labor will update its regulations based on this change.

Action Items:

• Review your scheduling and call-in procedures to ensure compliance with this new law.

• Update your paid leave policy by September 24, 2025, if it had this level of detail.