Maine rules on employee overtime, wage and hour law, and fair pay.
What is the minimum wage in Maine?
The minimum wage in Maine is $13.80 per hour as of January 1, 2023.
Is the minimum wage different in Maine for tipped employees?
The FLSA allows employers to pay a lower hourly minimum wage, as long as that wage plus the tips the employee earns adds up to at least the full minimum wage for each hour worked. If not, the employer has to make up the difference.
In Maine, employers can take a maximum tip credit of $6.90. This means that, in 2023, employers may pay tipped employees an hourly wage of $6.90, as long as the employee's tips bring the total hourly wage up to the state minimum wage of $13.80 an hour. (For more information, see Nolo's article Tips, Tip Pooling, and Tip Credits.)
When am I entitled to earn overtime?
In Maine, eligible employees must receive overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week. Not every type of job is eligible for overtime, however. To learn more, see Nolo's article Overtime Pay: Your Rights as an Employee and contact the Maine Department of Labor.
Am I entitled to a lunch or rest break?
Yes. Employees in Maine are entitled to a meal break of 30 minutes, unpaid, after six consecutive hours of work, except in cases of emergency.
To learn more about wage and hour laws in Maine, contact the state Department of Labor.
What are wage and hour laws?
Wage and hour laws set the basic standards for pay and time worked—covering issues like minimum wage, tips, overtime, meal and rest breaks, what counts as time worked, when you must be paid, things your employer must pay for, and so on.
Where do wage and hour laws come from?
The federal wage and hour law is called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Most states also have their own wage and hour laws, and some local governments (like cities and counties) do, too. An employer who is subject to more than one law must follow the law that is most generous to the employee. For example, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, but employers in states that have set a higher minimum wage must pay the higher amount.
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