A bill pending in the Legislature would add Maine to a handful of states that mandate overtime pay for many workers earning middle-class salaries.
Salaried, professional workers do not earn overtime after working a standard 40-hour work week unless they earn less than the annual threshold, which is about $38,000 this year. Under the proposed legislation, that salary cutoff would increase to more than $57,000 within three years.
Supporters of the bill say raising income standards protects workers from long hours of unpaid overtime. Salaried overtime has been in effect for decades, but income thresholds have not kept pace with inflation, allowing employers to overwork relatively low-paid salaried workers without compensation, they argue.
But a coalition of pro-business and trade groups staunchly opposes the bill. Maine’s overtime threshold is already higher than the federal limit, said Peter Gore, executive vice president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. Increasing the threshold would force employers to revert salaried workers to an hourly wage, raise business costs and make Maine less competitive, he said.
“Right now, Maine wants to attract new jobs, new opportunities and new investments in the state,” Gore said. “If we have a salary threshold that is completely different than the rest of the country, what does that mean for those efforts going forward?”
SPONSOR DECRIES “EXPLOITATION”
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