As of Friday, the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) will have the authority to order employers to pay back wages, liquidated damages, and interest to workers affected by labor law violations.
Prior to this, the MDOL’s Wage and Hour Division was only able to compel an employer to pay owed wages by obtaining a judgement in court or if a settlement agreement was reached to do so.
This change comes as a bill approved by lawmakers along strictly party lines and signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills (D) in April of this year went into effect Friday.
LD 372 — sponsored by Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot) — was first introduced as a concept draft and later amended by the Labor and Housing Committee to confer this power upon the MDOL.
All Democratic members of the Committee voted to recommend this law’s passage, while both Republican members voted to support a more moderate version of the bill.
Under this new law, violators may be required to pay as much as “twice the amount of unpaid wages as liquidated damages and a reasonable rate of interest” in addition to the wages due.
Consequently, businesses in violation of state wage laws may need to pay as much as three times the amount an employee was underpaid, plus interest.
The Committee’s Republican-backed minority report would have allowed the MDOL to compel payment of up to double the amount of unpaid wages, plus...
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