Maine’s Minimum Wage Will Increase in October
More workers to be covered by minimum wage.
More workers to be covered by overtime laws.
Thank you to everyone who called their legislators about the need to increase Maine’s minimum wage. Your efforts paid off!
Before adjourning for the year, the legislature passed an increase in the Maine minimum wage.
The current minimum wage of $7.00 per hour will increase to:
- $7.25 per hour on October 1, 2008 and
- $7.50 per hour on October 1, 2009
The bill also extended coverage under the minimum wage to include:
- Workers, such as direct care workers, housekeepers, and others who provide “domestic” services to people in their homes;
and
- People who work in non-profits agencies
The bill also made changes to Maine’s overtime laws. Domestic service workers, workers at hotels and motels, all restaurant
workers, and those working for most non-profit agencies will now be able to receive overtime pay. This means that these
employees must be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly pay rate for hours they work over 40 hours in a week.
This small increase in the minimum wage and the other changes in the bill will put more earnings in the hands of thousands
of Maine’s low-wage workers. This is especially important at a time when prices for basic necessities like food, heating
fuel and gasoline are on the rise.
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