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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 2 |
August 2005 |
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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 2 |
August 2005 |
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Sick Leave
Balancing Work & Family Just Become a Little Easier in MaineChristina’s story is a painful and all too familiar one for many Maine families. This spring Christina came to the Legislature’s Labor Committee to describe the day that her childcare provider called her at work to say that her 2-year old son was running a fever and had to be picked up. She couldn’t leave work. Her job had already been threatened for using one of her sick days to pick up a sick child. Her husband couldn’t use his sick time either, but was able to go and get their son and bring him to work with him. By the time Christina got out of work, her son had a temperature of 102 degrees and had to be taken to the emergency room.
Now, thanks to Christina, many others who shared similar stories, and the strong advocacy of the Maine Women’s Lobby with MAIN’s help, far fewer working families will be faced with the unfair and impossible choice between their family and their job. Beginning September 17, 2005 a new Maine law will give people in workplaces that employ 25 or more employees the right to use up to 40 hours a year of paid leave that they have earned to care for an “immediate family member” who is ill.
An “immediate family member” means an employee’s child, spouse or parent. An employee’s “paid leave” includes sick time, vacation time, comp time, or paid time that an employee can choose to use for any of these reasons. So, for example, a person working for an employer covered by this law who has earned 40 hours of sick time can use that time either when they are sick or to care for their sick child, spouse, or elderly parent.
Employers do have the right to require their employees to use a particular type of paid leave for this purpose. For example, they could require employees to use their vacation time to care for a sick child instead of their sick time. However, they can only do this if they have an actual policy requiring this and they apply the same policy to everyone who works there, including management.
As with any new law there may be confusion or misunderstandings when it first goes into effect. So, it is important to make sure that it provides all of the protection that the legislation intended. If you think that this new law is not being followed where you work, call the Maine Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Standards for more information or to make a complaint. The Bureau’s phone number is: 207-624-6400 or TTY: 1-800-794-1110.
MAIN wants to thank Senate President Beth Edmonds (D. Freeport) and House Speaker John Richardson (D. Brunswick) for sponsoring An Act to Care for Families and the Maine Women’s Lobby for its tireless advocacy in making this bill become law.
