(The Center Square) – Wages will be rising for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers in Maine in the new year, with a 2016 voter approved state law bumping up the state's minimum wage.
Maine’s minimum wage is slated to increase by more than $1 next month under a 2016 voter approved law indexing the state’s wage floor for inflation.
The state Department of Labor said the minimum wage will increase from $12.75 to $13.80 per hour beginning Jan. 1, based on newly released federal economic data.
A 2016 voter approved law requires the state's minimum wage to be adjusted by the percent increase in the 12 month Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the Northeast Region, as of August in the previous year.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed, 8.1 percent increase in prices in August, triggering the increase for next year.
Besides the wage hike, a new "tip wage" in 2023 will increase from $6.38 to $6.90 per hour. The bump in tipped wages means service employees must be paid a direct cash wage of $6.90 per hour by their employer.
"The employer must be able to show that the employee receives at least the minimum wage of $13.80 per hour when the direct wage and tips are combined at the end of the week," the state agency said in an advisory to employers.
Meanwhile, the minimum salary threshold for exempting a worker from overtime pay, which is also based on the minimum wage, will also increase from $735.59 to $796.17 per week, or $41,401 per...
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