Maine AFL-CIO-Backed Legislation Helps Maine DOL Catch Law-Breaking Employers

The Bureau of Labor Standards Wage and Hour Division has released information about labor law violation cases closed in the first quarter of 2025. The Wage and Hour Division issued final orders and citations to 19 employers, finding 1,119 violations affecting 199 workers. Multiple employers entered into settlement agreements with the Department.

“Our priority is to resolve violations and make workers whole as efficiently and effectively as possible,” said Bureau Director Kate Burkhart in a statement. “Of the employers cited in the first quarter, 58 percent entered into a settlement agreement with the Bureau. Settlement agreements not only make workers whole. They also establish oversight and training requirements to help employers achieve and maintain compliance with Maine’s labor laws. This allows the Bureau to prioritize the recovery of wages and damages owed to workers over penalties paid to the State.”

Prior to 2024, the Bureau could only pursue collection by initiating a civil lawsuit against the employer. The Maine AFL-CIO backed legislation in 2023 that changed the law (effective in August 2024) that gives the Bureau authority to order the payment of back wages, liquidated damages, and penalties, and to pursue a judgment to make workers whole. The Bureau partners with the Attorney General’s Office to do this. Since August, the Department has recovered $136,810.75 in back wages and $50,461.33 in liquidated damages and interest for workers.

Some examples of the violations cited so far in 2025 are:

• The Bureau found that Northern Maine Medical Center misclassified four members of the nursing staff as independent contractors, when in fact they were employees under the law. The employer was ordered to pay the nurses $15,706 in wages, liquidated damages, and interest and assessed a penalty of $92,800. The Department agreed to suspend all but $8,750 of the assessed penalty when the employer agreed to pay all that was owed to the employees within 7 days and not have another violation of Maine’s labor laws in the next two years.

• The Bureau cited Resurrection Golf, Inc./Old Marsh Country Club for failing to pay an employee on time for most of 2023 and for withholding but not paying the cost of health insurance premiums. The Bureau found that the employer owed the employee more than $2,200 for the money withheld from the employee’s paycheck, plus over $5,000 in liquidated damages and interest. The Bureau also assessed penalties of $8,000 for the violations.

• The Bureau found that Pennacook Falls Investments, Ltd./Best Western Plus, Rumford failed to pay or underpaid 43 employees, on 111 occasions, from the start of business in May 2022 through April 2023. The employer agreed to pay over $28,200 in wages and liquidated damages to the employees, compliance monitoring, training, and resolving other violations. In turn, the Bureau agreed to suspend all but $2,181.60 of the original penalty as long as the employer does not have another violation of Maine’s labor laws in the next two years.

The Bureau says cases in the first quarter show the importance of using the Strategic Enforcement model,* where the Division focuses investigative resources on industries in which violations are known to occur at a higher rate. In Maine in 2024, 61 percent of labor law violations found occurred in the hospitality, health care, and construction industries.

It added that first quarter cases also highlight the importance of using all the tools available to the Bureau to collect due wages, liquidated damages, and penalties from employers who violate labor laws. The full list of final agency action so far in 2025 can be found here.

Anyone who believes their employment rights have been violated, or employers who have questions, are encouraged to reach out to the Wage and Hour Division at (207) 623-7900 or maine.gov/labor/contact/