No Family vacation From Vacation Pay back in Vacationland: Beware, Maine Businesses!
In spite of substantial opposition from Maine’s small business neighborhood, like the Maine Condition Chamber of Commerce and leaders in the tourism, hospitality, and smaller small business communities, Governor Janet Mills signed into regulation Legislative Document (L.D.) 225, “An Act Regarding the Therapy of Holiday vacation Time on the Cessation of Work” on April 7, 2022. The regulation amends 26 M.R.S.A. § 626 to call for every employer with a lot more than ten workforce to pay its staff members, on the cessation of work, “[a]ll unused paid out getaway accrued pursuant to the employer’s vacation plan on and soon after January 1, 2023.”
Aside from making noteworthy monetary burdens for enterprises throughout the condition, L.D. 225 appears to conflict with Maine’s Acquired Paid Go away law and is already building sizeable confusion for Maine’s company local community.
The freshly enacted regulation does not supply a crystal clear definition of what leave it covers, apart from “unused compensated vacation accrued pursuant to the employer’s family vacation policy.” According to composed testimony supplied to the Maine Legislature by the Maine Point out Chamber of Commerce, Maine Office of Labor, and HospitalityMaine, a range of Maine’s larger businesses are working to make clear their paid out time off (PTO) applications and shifting absent from adaptable PTO, which gains employers and personnel alike, to independent unwell depart and vacation leave insurance policies. Other companies are revising their policies to supply for “earned leave” or “personal time.” The new law’s provisions also are unsuccessful to tackle employers’ skill to established annual caps on carryover of unused paid out leave.
Below L.D. 225, companies with “vacation policies” would look to be necessary to fork out unused, accrued vacation pay back to workforce discharged for misconduct, including theft, assault, or other violations of workplace procedures.
With the enactment of L.D. 225, Maine’s new getaway pay out law, Maine results in being a person of only a handful of states, such as California, Colorado, and Massachusetts, mandating the payment of unused, accrued getaway upon an employee’s separation from employment. Considering the fact that the passage of Maine’s Earned Paid Leave legislation, the Maine Department of Labor stories getting fielded a considerably enhanced quantity of inquiries from businesses and staff on the subject of compensated leave, and it expects this selection to boost exponentially with the enactment of Maine’s holiday vacation pay law.
Ogletree Deakins’ Portland business office will keep on to monitor developments with respect to Maine’s holiday vacation fork out regulation and will post updates on the firm’s Maine blog site as more facts results in being accessible. Crucial facts for businesses is also readily available through the firm’s webinar and podcast plans.
