Updating your Maine Earned Paid Leave policy . . . unfortunately!

by Peter Lowe and Lynn Gelinas, Brann & Isaacson

The recent focus for many employers has been on Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave and getting a policy in place. Most employers tackled Earned Paid Leave (EPL) back in 2021 when it was passed into law. We want to alert you to a change in the EPL law, and a recent Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) interpretation of that change, which is very likely to affect your policies. Apologies as this gets a little thorny! 

Quick refresher 

EPL applies to Maine employers with 11 or more employees. Employees earn one hour of EPL for every 40 hours of work, and EPL is capped at 40 hours earned in a year. It can be used for any reason. 

When the law was passed it was clear that employers could cap the total accrual of EPL each year at 40 hours. The amount of EPL permitted to be accrued in a year could be reduced by any EPL hours carried over from the previous year, capping the total cumulative EPL accrual at 40 hours.