Employee Handbook - Maine

EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

State of Maine

[COMPANY LEGAL NAME]

Effective Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Handbook Status and Administration
2. Equal Employment, Harassment, Pregnancy, and Accommodation
3. Hiring, Wage, Hour, Payday, Break, and PTO Policies
4. Earned, Family, Medical, Safety, Court, and Military Leave
5. Safety, Workers Compensation, Smoke-Free Workplace, and Conduct
6. Surveillance, Technology, Confidentiality, and Protected Activity
7. Attendance and Corrective Action
8. Separation of Employment
9. Administration and Acknowledgment

1. HANDBOOK STATUS AND ADMINISTRATION

1.1 Purpose and Scope

This Handbook states the general policies of [Company Legal Name] (the “Company”) for Employees working in Maine. It must be completed for the Company's workforce, locations, industry, benefits, and any collective bargaining agreement before distribution.

1.2 Not a Contract; Employment Relationship

This Handbook is not an employment contract, a promise of employment for a fixed term, or a guarantee that any corrective-action step will be used. The Company's policy is employment at will to the extent Maine law permits. Only [AUTHORIZED TITLE] may sign an agreement changing that relationship.

1.3 Reporting Channels and Anti-Retaliation

An Employee may report a concern orally or in writing to [SUPERVISOR], [HR CONTACT], or [ALTERNATE/ETHICS CONTACT], and may bypass anyone involved in the concern. The Company will respond promptly and impartially and prohibits retaliation for good-faith reports, accommodation requests, wage complaints, protected leave, jury service, safety reports, workers-compensation activity, participation in an investigation, or other legally protected conduct.

1.4 Definitions, Coverage, and Local-Law Review

“Employee” means an individual employed by the Company, whether full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, or per diem. A statute or benefit plan may use a different eligibility definition.

“Workweek” means the fixed seven-day period beginning at [DAY/TIME] and ending at [DAY/TIME] for payroll and overtime purposes.

Complete before issue:

• One or more Employees for Maine Human Rights Act, sexual-harassment notice, surveillance, smoking-policy, and workers-compensation review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• More than ten Employees in the usual course for more than 120 days for earned-paid-leave review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Ten or more Employees for pay-transparency review effective July 29, 2026: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Fifteen or more Employees at one Maine location for Maine family-medical-leave review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Fifteen or more Employees for sexual-harassment training and federal civil-rights review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Twenty-five or more Employees for family-sick-leave review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Fifty or more Employees for federal FMLA review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Employees working in more than one state: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Collective bargaining agreement applies: ☐ Yes ☐ No

Human Resources must separately review every municipal ordinance applicable to an Employee's work location. This state template does not substitute for a local overlay.

2. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT, HARASSMENT, PREGNANCY, AND ACCOMMODATION

2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on race or color, sex, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, familial status, protected workers-compensation activity, a protected order of protection, or any other status or activity protected by Company policy or applicable state, federal, or local law.

The Maine Human Rights Act generally defines an employer to include a person employing any number of Employees. State and federal laws use different coverage thresholds and protected categories, so Human Resources must apply every law that covers the Company and Employee.

2.2 Complaint Procedure

Employees should report discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or an accommodation need to [HR CONTACT] or [ALTERNATE CONTACT]. Reports will be addressed promptly and as confidentially as reasonably possible. Employees may contact a government agency or pursue another protected remedy without first exhausting this internal process.

2.3 Disability, Religion, and Pregnancy

The Company will engage in an appropriate interactive process and provide reasonable accommodation when required for disability, religion, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or a related medical condition.

Upon request, Maine law requires reasonable accommodation for a pregnancy-related condition unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship. Possible accommodations include more frequent or longer breaks, temporary schedule changes, seating or equipment, temporary relief from lifting, temporary transfer to less strenuous or hazardous work, and lactation provisions. Human Resources will also apply the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act when it provides additional protection.

2.4 Sexual-Harassment Posting, Notice, and Training

The Company will maintain Maine's required sexual-harassment poster and provide every Employee the required individual written notice each year.

A workplace with fifteen or more Employees will train each new Employee within one year after employment begins and will provide the additional supervisor and manager content required by 26 M.R.S. § 807. The Company will use the Department of Labor compliance checklist and retain required training records for at least three years.

3. HIRING, WAGE, HOUR, PAYDAY, BREAK, AND PTO POLICIES

3.1 Pay Transparency Effective July 29, 2026

Beginning July 29, 2026, an employer with ten or more Employees must include the prospective range of pay in a direct or third-party posting for a specific available position. A posting for a position compensated solely by commission must state that fact instead of listing a pay range.

Upon an Employee's request, the Company will disclose the range of pay offered for the Employee's position. It will maintain each position held and the Employee's pay history during employment and for three years after separation. Human Resources must apply 26 M.R.S. § 622-A to every posting published or remaining open on or after the effective date.

3.2 Equal Pay and Wage Discussions

The Company will not pay an Employee less on the basis of sex or race for comparable work in the same establishment, except for a lawful differential identified in 26 M.R.S. § 628. It will not retaliate for protected enforcement activity or prohibit wage inquiries or disclosures protected by that section or other law.

3.3 Classification, Minimum Wage, and Overtime

Human Resources will classify workers based on actual duties and the working relationship, not labels alone. Salaried status by itself does not establish an overtime exemption.

Maine's statewide minimum wage is $15.10 per hour in 2026. The Company will pay the highest applicable federal, state, local, contractual, or Company rate. A tip credit or exemption may be used only after payroll and legal review.

Non-exempt Employees must accurately record all time worked, including authorized or unauthorized work before or after a shift, remote work, compensable travel, training, interrupted meals, and work communications. Working off the clock is prohibited, but all time actually worked must be recorded and paid.

For covered Employees, Maine and federal law generally require one and one-half times the regular rate for hours actually worked over forty in a Workweek. Maine has occupation-specific exceptions. Lack of advance approval does not permit unpaid overtime.

3.4 Paydays and Pay Changes

Covered Employees will be paid in full on a regular payday at intervals not exceeding sixteen days. Each payment will include wages earned to within eight days of the payment date. Human Resources must separately review the statutory treatment of salaried Employees, family members, school personnel, and other exceptions.

The regular payday is [____]. Any increase in the pay interval requires at least thirty days' written notice. A decrease in a pay rate will not take effect before the next working day after notice, subject to collective bargaining and prevailing-wage rules.

3.5 Minimum Pay for Reporting to Work

When covered by 26 M.R.S. § 639-A, an Employee who reports at the Company's request and then has the scheduled shift canceled or reduced will receive the lesser of two hours at the regular hourly rate or the total pay for the originally scheduled shift.

The rule generally applies to an Employer with at least ten Employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in a calendar year. A documented good-faith effort to tell an Employee not to report, the opportunity to perform assigned work after an unsuccessful notice attempt, adverse weather, natural disaster or civil emergency, the Employee's illness or medical condition, workplace injury, and other statutory coverage rules may affect payment. Human Resources must document the notice and exception analysis.

3.6 Deductions and Employee Costs

The Company will make deductions only when permitted by Maine and federal law. It will not charge an Employee for cash shortages, inventory shortages, customer payment failures, damage to Company property, uniforms, required protective equipment, or tools primarily benefiting the Company when 26 M.R.S. § 629 treats the item as outside a lawful employee debt.

Any loan, advance, merchandise, benefit, housing, uniform-cleaning, overpayment, or other deduction requires a specific statutory basis and any required written agreement. A general handbook acknowledgment is not a blank deduction authorization.

3.7 Rest and Meal Periods

Unless a collective bargaining agreement or other written employer-employee agreement lawfully provides otherwise, a covered Employee may not work more than six consecutive hours without the opportunity for at least thirty consecutive minutes of rest time. The period may be unpaid only if the Employee is completely relieved of duty.

The statutory small-worksite exception requires both fewer than three Employees on duty at one time and work that allows frequent shorter paid breaks. The Company's policy is:

• Meal period: [PAID / UNPAID / LENGTH / ELIGIBILITY]
• Rest periods: [PAID / LENGTH / FREQUENCY]
• Reporting interrupted meals or missed breaks: [METHOD]

3.8 Vacation and General PTO

The Company's written vacation or general PTO policy is:

• Accrual method: [____]
• Carryover, cap, or forfeiture rule: [____]
• Permitted uses: [____]
• Separation payout rule: [____]
• Scheduling and approval rules: [____]

For a private employer with more than ten Employees, all unused paid vacation accrued under the employer's vacation policy on and after January 1, 2023 generally must be paid at separation. Public employers, employers with ten or fewer Employees, and a controlling collective bargaining agreement have statutory exceptions. Human Resources must distinguish vacation from other leave categories and apply 26 M.R.S. § 626 before denying payout.

4. EARNED, FAMILY, MEDICAL, SAFETY, COURT, AND MILITARY LEAVE

4.1 Maine Earned Paid Leave

An employer that employs more than ten Employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in a calendar year must provide earned paid leave to covered Employees outside a statutory seasonal industry.

A covered Employee earns one hour for every forty hours worked, up to forty hours in a year of employment or a higher policy limit. Accrual begins at employment, but use may be delayed until the Employee has been employed for 120 days during a one-year period.

Accrued and unused leave carries into the next year and must remain available for use. Under the 2025 amendment, carried leave does not reduce the Employee's right to earn the next year's forty hours or higher policy amount. For nonemergency use, the Company may require reasonable notice and scheduling that prevents undue hardship; emergency, illness, or sudden-necessity use requires notice as soon as practicable under current Department guidance.

Leave may be used for any reason and is paid at least at the Employee's immediate base rate with the benefits required by 26 M.R.S. § 637. The Company will provide required posters and records and prohibits retaliation.

4.2 Federal Family and Medical Leave

The FMLA applies to private employers with fifty or more Employees in at least twenty workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year and to covered public employers. An Employee generally must have twelve months of service, 1,250 hours worked in the prior twelve months, and fifty Employees within seventy-five miles of the worksite.

Eligible Employees may receive up to twelve workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family, medical, and military-exigency reasons and up to twenty-six workweeks in a single twelve-month period for qualifying military-caregiver leave. Health-benefit maintenance and restoration rights apply subject to the statute. A separate FMLA policy and required notices control administration.

4.3 Maine Family Medical Leave

Maine's separate family-medical-leave law generally covers a private employer with fifteen or more Employees at one Maine location, the State, and a municipality with twenty-five or more Employees.

An Employee who has worked for the same Employer for twelve consecutive months generally may take up to ten workweeks of leave in any two years, unless employed at a permanent worksite with fewer than fifteen Employees. The general rule does not impose a 1,250-hour test; a separate 900-hour rule applies to school-administrative-unit Employees.

Qualifying reasons include the Employee's serious health condition; birth; qualifying adoption placement; care for specified family members with a serious health condition; organ donation; and specified military-family death or serious-health-condition events. Thirty days' notice and physician certification may apply, subject to medical-emergency and statutory rules.

Leave may be unpaid. Restoration and an opportunity to continue benefits at the Employee's expense apply under 26 M.R.S. § 845. Human Resources must coordinate Maine leave with federal FMLA and PFML rather than treating the entitlements as automatically consecutive.

4.4 Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave

Maine PFML benefits are currently available for leave occurring on or after May 1, 2026. Covered workers who meet the earnings requirement may apply for up to twelve weeks of paid family, medical, parental, military-family, or safe leave in a benefit year.

An Employee with at least 120 consecutive days of service with the Employer generally has statutory job-restoration protection for approved leave. PFML, federal FMLA, and Maine family medical leave run concurrently when they apply. Contributions began January 1, 2025.

The Company will use the current State plan or an approved private plan, provide required notices, submit required wage and premium information, and direct Employees to maine.gov/paidleave for the current claim process. A separate current PFML policy controls benefit calculations, applications, certifications, intermittent leave, notice, contribution sharing, and private-plan rules.

4.5 Family Sick Leave

An employer with twenty-five or more Employees that provides paid leave under a policy or collective bargaining agreement must allow a covered Employee to use earned paid leave to care for an ill child, spouse, or parent under 26 M.R.S. § 636.

A uniformly applied policy may limit the amount, but not below forty hours in a twelve-month period. The Employee may choose among earned leave types subject to the statute and a bona fide uniformly applied policy. Notice or verification may be required on the same basis used for the Employee's own illness.

4.6 Leave for Victims of Violence

The Company will provide reasonable and necessary leave, with or without pay as applicable, for the court, medical-treatment, and crisis-service purposes protected by 26 M.R.S. § 850 when the Employee or the Employee's child, parent, or spouse is a covered victim.

Human Resources will apply the statute's reasonable-notice, undue-hardship, practicality, necessity, anti-sanction, pay, and benefit rules. Any proposed denial requires prompt counsel review.

4.7 Jury, Emergency-Responder, and Military Leave

The Company will not deprive an Employee of employment or health-insurance coverage, or threaten or coerce an Employee, because of jury service protected by 14 M.R.S. § 1218. Jury leave is [PAID / UNPAID] under Company policy, subject to federal salary-basis rules.

A firefighter or emergency medical services person may have protected absence rights under 26 M.R.S. § 809 after satisfying its notice, documentation, policy-filing, and other conditions. Human Resources must review any essential-Employee designation or separate written agreement.

The Company will provide military leave, nondiscrimination, benefit, and reemployment rights required by USERRA and any applicable Maine law.

5. SAFETY, WORKERS COMPENSATION, SMOKE-FREE WORKPLACE, AND CONDUCT

5.1 Workplace Safety and Injury Reporting

Employees must follow safety rules, use required protective equipment, and promptly report hazards, injuries, and illnesses to [CONTACT]. The Company prohibits retaliation for a good-faith safety or injury report.

Maine generally requires every private employer to secure workers-compensation coverage or lawful self-insurance for all Employees, subject to listed exceptions. The Company has secured required coverage or confirmed a lawful exception: ☐ Yes.

5.2 Smoke- and Vape-Free Workplace

The Company will maintain, post, and implement the written smoking policy required by 22 M.R.S. § 1580-A. Smoking, including use of an electronic smoking device, is prohibited indoors. Outdoor smoking is prohibited except in a lawful designated area at least twenty feet from entryways, vents, and doorways, unless the Company adopts a broader prohibition.

5.3 Drug, Alcohol, Cannabis, Violence, and Weapons

Reporting to work impaired by alcohol, cannabis, an illegal drug, or another substance that prevents safe performance is prohibited. Possession, use, sale, or distribution of alcohol, cannabis, or illegal drugs during work or on Company property is prohibited except for a specifically authorized lawful business event or other written exception.

This Handbook alone does not establish a substance-use testing program. Maine imposes detailed policy, approval, testing, and employee-assistance requirements, so any testing policy must be separately drafted and reviewed. The Company will address lawful medication, disability, and accommodation issues under applicable law. Threats, intimidation, and violence are prohibited. The weapons policy is [INSERT SEPARATELY REVIEWED POLICY].

6. SURVEILLANCE, TECHNOLOGY, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND PROTECTED ACTIVITY

6.1 Employer Surveillance

Before using electronic employer surveillance covered by 26 M.R.S. § 620-A, the Company will notify affected Employees. If the Company uses covered surveillance, it will inform prospective Employees during the interview process and provide current Employees written notice at least once each calendar year.

The Company will not use audiovisual monitoring in an Employee's residence, personal vehicle, or on the Employee's property unless required for job duties. An Employee may decline a request to install a data-collection or transmission application on the Employee's personal electronic device for surveillance purposes. Statutory exceptions include certain safety or security cameras, GPS or safety devices on employer-owned vehicles, and personal-care-service settings.

Current surveillance used by the Company: [DESCRIBE SYSTEMS, DATA, PURPOSES, LOCATIONS, ACCESS, AND RETENTION].

6.2 Technology and Security

Company systems, accounts, networks, and devices are provided primarily for business use. Limited personal use is [PERMITTED / PROHIBITED]. Any access or monitoring will be disclosed and conducted only as permitted by law. Employees must protect credentials, report security incidents, follow retention rules, and avoid unlawful, harassing, or unsafe use.

6.3 Confidentiality and Lawful Disclosures

Employees must protect legitimate confidential and trade-secret information learned through work. This policy does not prohibit an Employee from reporting suspected unlawful conduct to a government agency or attorney, cooperating in an investigation, discussing wages or working conditions where protected, or engaging in other legally protected activity.

6.4 Separate Agreements

Any arbitration, restrictive-covenant, confidentiality, invention-assignment, commission, bonus, substance-use-testing, surveillance, or employment agreement must be separately drafted and reviewed for current Maine and federal law. This Handbook itself does not impose those terms.

7. ATTENDANCE AND CORRECTIVE ACTION

7.1 Expected Conduct

Employees must perform assigned duties safely and honestly; comply with lawful policies; accurately record time and business records; protect Company, customer, and coworker property; avoid unlawful harassment, threats, or violence; and disclose actual conflicts of interest to [HR/COMPLIANCE].

7.2 Attendance and Call-In

Employees unable to report as scheduled must notify [CONTACT] by [METHOD] at least [____] before the shift when practicable. This policy will be administered consistently with accommodation, earned paid leave, federal and Maine family-medical leave, PFML, family sick leave, violence leave, jury, emergency-responder, military, workers-compensation, and other protected-absence laws.

7.3 Corrective Action

The Company may use coaching, verbal warning, written warning, final warning, suspension, or termination. It may select or skip steps based on the circumstances. This policy does not create a contract or authorize action for a protected reason.

8. SEPARATION OF EMPLOYMENT

8.1 Notice and Return of Property

Employees are requested, but not required by this Handbook, to provide [____] days' resignation notice. At separation, Employees must return Company property and records. The Company will not deduct or set off property damage, shortages, customer-payment failures, or other alleged debts from earned wages unless a specific deduction is permitted by 26 M.R.S. §§ 626 and 629 and other applicable law.

8.2 Final Pay and Benefits

An Employee leaving employment will be paid in full no later than the next established payday. Required vacation payout will be made under Section 3.8. Commissions, bonuses, severance, expenses, and benefits will be handled under the governing written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law.

9. ADMINISTRATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

9.1 Policy Administration

The Company may prospectively revise policies in writing, subject to applicable law, earned wages and leave, contracts, and collective bargaining agreements. If a policy conflicts with controlling law, the law controls and the policy will be administered as closely as possible to its lawful purpose.

9.2 No Mandatory Internal Exhaustion

Employees are encouraged to use internal reporting channels, but nothing in this Handbook requires an Employee to waive or delay a right to contact a government agency, file a charge, report a crime, seek emergency assistance, consult counsel, discuss wages or working conditions where protected, or pursue another protected remedy.

9.3 No Risk-Shifting Terms

This Handbook does not impose arbitration, a jury waiver, employee indemnity, a damages cap, attorney-fee shifting, an exclusive court forum, a pre-claim notice-and-cure period, a final-wage setoff, or a force-majeure excuse from wage, leave, safety, or insurance obligations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT

I, [EMPLOYEE NAME], acknowledge that I received the [Company Legal Name] Employee Handbook effective [MM/DD/YYYY] and understand that I am expected to follow its lawful policies. I understand that this acknowledgment and the Handbook are not employment contracts and do not promise employment for a fixed term.