Maine Minimum Wage Law

Effective October 1, 2005, the minimum wage rate in Maine is $6.50 per hour. Effective October 1, 2006, the minimum wage in Maine is $6.75 per hour. Effective October 1, 2007, the minimum wage in Maine will increase to $7.00 per hour.

Exempted from coverage under Maine's minimum wage law are individuals employed:

1. in agriculture,
2. in domestic service,
3. in occupations not subject to close supervision and in which earnings are derived in whole or in part from sales commissions,
4. as taxicab drivers,
5. in public-supported or educational nonprofit organizations,
6. as counselors or student employees under 19 years old, employed at camps owned or operated by corporations without capital stock,
7. in the fishing industry,
8. as switchboard operators in public telephone exchanges with less than 750 stations
9. as unsupervised homeworkers,
10. as relatives who live with and depend on the employer, or
11. in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity with a salary of not less than $175 weekly.

Employers are required to give notice to all affected employees prior to decreasing the rate of pay. Employers are not required to give prior notice before returning employees to the regular wage rate, if the increase in pay is temporary in order to comply with federal prevailing wage requirements or other applicable federal or state law.