Federal & State Regulations | FMLA - Maine | J. J. Keller® Compliance Network

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

Maine employers need to be aware of state provisions, including earned paid leave, paied family and medical leave, family sick leave, family military leave, violence victim leave, caregiver leave, public health emergency leave, veteran leave, and leave for firefighters.

Earned paid leave

Effective January 1, 2021, employers with 10 or more employees for more than 120 days in any calendar year are required to provide earned paid leave to employees

Family medical leave

Maine’s family medical leave requirements apply to private employers with 15 or more employees, local governments or agencies with 25 or more employees, and all state government employers. FMLA only applies to employers with 50 or more employees.

Employee eligibility

To be eligible for family medical leave, an employee must have worked for their employer 12 consecutive months at a permanent worksite with 15 or more employees.

Unlike FMLA, an employee does not need to work a specified number of hours to be eligible for leave under Maine’s provisions.

Leave entitlement

An eligible employee is entitled to 10 weeks of leave within a 24-month period.

Reasons for leave

Employees may take family medical leave for the following reasons:

The birth of the employee’s child or the child of the employee’s domestic partner;
The adoption of a child (16 years old or younger) with the employee or with the employee’s domestic partner;
The serious health condition of the employee;
To care for a child, domestic partner’s child, grandchild (effective 10/18/21), domestic partner’s grandchild (effective 10/18/21), parent, domestic partner, sibling, or spouse, with a serious health condition;
If the employee serves as an organ donor; or
The death or serious health condition of the employee’s spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, or child, incurred while on active military duty in the U.S. Armed Forces or state military forces.

Unlike FMLA, Maine does not provide leave for foster care placement.

Maintenance of health benefits

Maine requires that during any family medical leave employees must be allowed to maintain their benefits at their own expense. However; the employer and employee may negotiate for the employer to pay for the benefits during the leave.

Job restoration

FMLA states that employees returning from leave are entitled to their former job or an equivalent job. Maine requires that employees returning from leave are entitled to their former position or to an equivalent position with similar seniority status, employee benefits, pay, etc. Employers covered under both Maine’s provisions and FMLA must, therefore, allow employees on leave to return to their former job, if the job still exists.

Notice

Similar to FMLA, Maine requires that employees give their employer at least 30 days’ advanced notice of leave unless prevented to do so by a medical emergency.

Paid family and medical leave

Contributions begin 1/1/25; employees may begin taking leave 5/1/26.

All employers are covered, except for the Federal Government.

Employee eligibility

Employees are eligible to take the leave if they have earned at least six times the state average weekly wage during the individual's base period (the first 4 calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year).

Leave Entitlement

Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of family or medical leave in a benefit year. The benefit year is a 12-month period beginning on the first day of the calendar week immediately preceding the date on which family or medical leave benefits begin.

Leave may be taken intermittently in increments of not less than 8 hours or on a reduced leave schedule otherwise agreed to by the employee and the employer.

If the employee meets the eligibility criteria for both the ME paid family and medical leave and the federal FMLA, and the reason qualifies for both, the leave may run concurrently.

Qualifying Reasons

Medical leave for an employee with a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work

Family leave:

The birth of the employee's child or the employee's domestic partner's child;
The placement of a child 16 years of age or less with the employee or with the employee's domestic partner in connection with the adoption of the child by the employee or the employee's domestic partner;
To bond with a child during the first 12 months after the child's birth or the first 12 months after the placement of the child for adoption or foster care with the employee;
The donation of an organ of the employee for a human organ transplant;
To care for a family member with a serious health condition;
To attend to a military-related qualifying exigency;
To care for a family member of the covered individual who is a covered military service member;
For the death or serious health conditions of a spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, or child in the state military who died or incurred a serious health condition while on active duty.
For safe (sexual assault victim) leave because the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim of violence, assault, sexual assault; to:
- Obtain medical care or mental health counseling;
- Make the employee’s or the family member's home secure from the perpetrator or find new housing; or
- Seek legal assistance.

Family members include children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, spouse, domestic partners, and an individual with whom the employee has a significant personal bond that is or is like a family relationship, regardless of biological or legal relationship (as designated by the employee).

Reinstatement

Except for employees have not been employed for at least 120 days, employees are to be restored to their position or an equivalent one.

Notices/Forms

Employers must post a related notice in English and each language other than English that is the primary language of three or more employees of that workplace, if such notice is available from the state department of labor.

Within 30 days from the beginning date of employment, employers must give each new employee written information including the benefits, contribution amount, and how to file a claim.

Except for emergencies, illness, or other sudden necessity for taking leave, employees must give reasonable notice to their supervisor of their intent to use leave.

Family sick leave

If an employer with 25 or more employees, under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or employment policy, provides paid leave, it must allow an employee to use the paid leave for the care of the employee’s child, spouse, or parent who is ill.

The employer may adopt a policy limiting the number of hours of paid leave taken under this section, but must allow for at least 40 hours in a 12-month period. The paid leave must be earned. The employer may require notice or verification of illness, if such notification is required for the employee’s own illness.

Family military leave

Employers with 15 or more employees must allow eligible employees unpaid, job-protected family military leave.

Employee eligibility

Employees are eligible if they have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and have worked for at least 1,250 hours in the last 12 months before leave.

Type of leave

Eligible employees who are the spouse, domestic partner, or parent of a person who is a resident of Maine and is deployed for military service of more than 180 days may take up to 15 days of leave per deployment.

The leave must be taken during the 15 days before, during, or after deployment.

Maintenance of health benefits

Employers must make it possible for employees to continue employee benefits, such as group life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, and pensions, during leave at the employee’s expense.

Job restoration

At the end of leave, employees are entitled to be restored to the position held before leave began or to an equivalent position. Employees are not entitled to restoration if the employer proves that the employee was not restored because of a condition unrelated to the employee’s family military leave.

Notice

If leave will last five or more consecutive workdays, employees must provide at least 14 days’ notice of when the leave will begin. If leave will last fewer than five consecutive workdays, employees must consult with the employer and attempt to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

Employers may require certification from the applicable military authority to verify the family military leave.

Leave for victims of violence

All Maine employers are to grant reasonable and necessary unpaid leave from work to an employee who is a victim of violence, assault, domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or whose family member is such a victim.

Employers may, however, ask that leave be modified or deny a requested leave if:

The employee’s leave would pose an undue hardship on the employer;
The request for leave is not provided within a reasonable period of time; or
The requested leave is not practical, reasonable, or necessary based on the facts made known to the employer.

An employee may take leave to prepare for and attend court proceedings; receive medical treatment for himself or herself or for a victim who is the employee’s daughter, son, parent, or spouse; or obtain other necessary services to remedy a clear and immediate threat to the victim caused by violence.

Employees are to provide the employer with a request for leave as soon as possible after learning of the need, including the information necessary for the employer to make an informed decision on the request.

Public health emergency leave

All employers must allow reasonable unpaid leave related to an extreme public health emergency. The reasons include the following:

The employee is under public health investigation, supervision, or treatment;
The employee is acting in accordance with an emergency order;
The employee is under quarantine or isolation or is subject to a control measure;
The employer’s concern that the employee may expose other individuals in the workplace; or
The employee is needed to care for his or her spouse, domestic partner, parent, or child.

Employers need not provide such leave if it would pose an undue hardship, the leave request is not timely, or the employee is a public employee who is needed to work to protect the public’s health unless no other options exist.

During leave, the employee must not lose any benefits accrued before leave began.

The leave must be for the duration of an extreme public health emergency and for a reasonable and necessary time period following the termination of the extreme public health emergency for diseases or conditions that are contracted or exposures that occurred during the extreme public health emergency

Upon return to work, the employee may be required to provide documentation supporting the leave.

Veteran leave for VA appointments

Employers must allow a veteran to take time away from work to attend a scheduled appointment at a medical facility operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) , as long as the veteran gives the employer notice of the appointment as soon as reasonably possible.

Employers that provide paid leave must allow a veteran to use available paid leave to attend such appointments. If a veteran has used all available paid leave, employers must grant unpaid leave to the veteran to attend the appointment.

Employers that do not provide paid leave must grant unpaid leave to a veteran to attend such an appointment.

Firefighters

There are no real employee eligibility criteria. Employees who are late to work because they were responding to an emergency in the capacity as a firefighter have job protections. This could involve a hazardous or toxic material spill and cleanup, or any other situation to which the fire department was dispatched.

The employee is to report to work as soon as reasonably possible after being released from the emergency. If time permits, the employee must notify the employer that he or she will be late. Employers may require that employees provide a statement from the fire chief stating that the employee was responding to an emergency as well as the time of release from the emergency.

Employers may charge the lost time against the employee’s regular pay or against the employee’s available leave time.