MAINE: Court Finds Portland Hazard Pay Ordinance Constitutional, But Not Effective Until 2022

​Employers in Portland, Maine received long-awaited clarity Tuesday regarding a November 2020 voter referendum raising the city’s minimum wage and instituting hazard pay during states of emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 6, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled in Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce v. City of Portland that the voter-initiated legislation establishing an emergency minimum wage was constitutional but does not take effect until January 1, 2022. 

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The ruling means that at least until next year, employers in Maine’s largest city must abide only by the state’s current minimum wage of $12.15 per hour and do not have to pay hazard wages of 1.5 times that rate. read more