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Minimum pay for reporting to work

Summary This Maine Bureau of Labor Standards guidance explains a new law (effective September 24, 2025) requiring employers to make a good-faith effort to tell employees before a scheduled shift is cancelled or shortened. If they don't, and an employee reports to work anyway, the employer must pay the lesser of two hours' pay at the employee's regular rate or what the employee would have earned for the full scheduled shift, including any applicable shift differential or overtime rate. It lists exceptions (severe weather, natural disaster or civil emergency, or the employee's own illness or workplace injury) and recommends employers document their notification attempts. Matters to Maine employers who schedule shift work and to employees sent home after showing up for a cancelled or shortened shift.
Document
Maine guidance
Agency
Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS)
Status
Active
Undated on its face. It interprets 26 MRSA section 639-A, enacted by PL 2025, c. 418 (LD 598, signed without the Governor's signature June 24, 2025); MDOL's own news coverage says the law took effect September 24, 2025, so this guidance was necessarily published on or after that enactment.
Status last verified July 6, 2026

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This page explains the general guidance. Ask about your specific situation and see what current Maine labor law says, with citations.

About this page: The full text below is the official document from Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.

NEW Minimum Pay for Reporting to Work

An employer must make a good faith effort to tell employees before a shift is cancelled or shortened. If an employer does not, and an employee reports to work and is sent home because their shift is canceled or shortened, the employer must pay the employee the lesser of: (1) two hours of pay at the employee's regular hourly rate, or (2) the total amount the employee would have earned for the originally scheduled shift.

If an employee is entitled to receive minimum pay for reporting to work, the pay should be at the rate they would have received if they actually worked the shift.

  • It will include the shift differential if applicable;
  • It will include the overtime rate if the shift was actually an overtime shift

Exceptions

The law provides exceptions if the employer cancels or shortens a shift because employees can't work due to adverse weather, a natural disaster or civil emergency, or the employee's own illness or workplace injury.

Documentation

Employers can avoid complaints and penalties by documenting when and how they notify an employee not to report for work. The employer needs to notify employees directly or notify the employees of an alternative notice system like the Civil Alert System. If these efforts are unsuccessful and the employee reports to work, the employee must perform any assigned duties that the employer has available, as long as the employee is physically able to do that work. If there are no duties to assign, the employer must compensate the employee as explained above.

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