Maine
Maine Paid Family Medical Leave program issues new rules, calls for public hearing
On Wednesday a new set of rules for Maine’s Paid Family Medical Leave program that incorporates public comments received at a hearing earlier this summer was released. More than 15 clarifications and amendments that address everything from private family medical leave plans to self-employed workers is addressed in the second draft of rules.
Senator Mattie Daughtry, Assistant Senate Majority Leader, said with a program of this size a slow deliberative process was important.
“The first public comment had 1,000 comments from 300 people. You can see those comments were incorporated. So having this second comment period is important so that when it goes live in January that it is meeting the needs of what we need for this program in our state,” Daughtry said.
Maine’s Paid Family Medical Leave program would allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a newborn or adopted child or to deal with a serious health condition.
Luke Monohan, Director of the Maine Paid Family Medical Leave program, said feedback from a diverse group of businesses and public members lead to commonsense changes that will make the program better for workers in Maine.
“It’s a complex program. It’s a program that will affect almost all workers and businesses in Maine. The fact that we were able to integrate so much and come up with so many changes and make people feel heard in the process,” Monohan said.
In a statement the Maine State Chamber of Commerce said the new proposed rule allows employers to declare private plans at least 12 months earlier than the previous rule and revises the ability for businesses to assert a hardship for leave.
The revised proposed Rule:
- Clarifies the definition of family member.
- Clarifies the role of employee leasing companies.
- Determines employer liability based upon an employer’s established payroll in 20 or more calendar workweeks in the 12-month period preceding September 30th of each year by Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
- Clarifies the circumstances under which volunteers are not covered by the law.
- Clarifies that an applicant must be employed on or before the day the approved leave will begin.
- Clarifies eligibility for leave that runs concurrently with the Federal Family Medical Leave Act in the year before benefits for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program are taken.
- Amends provisions regarding notice and undue hardship.
- Clarifies that fraud means “willful” acts.
- Changes certain timelines.
- Explains and clarifies the role of the Maine Bureau of Insurance and the Maine Department of Labor regarding the review of fully-insured private plans.
- Clarifies the definition of income for self-employed individuals to elect coverage.
- Amends the reasons an employee or employer may seek an appeal and notification to parties for appeals.
- Amends the factors to determine minimum criteria for substitute plans.
- Amends the process for submitting applications for substitute plans beginning April 1, 2025. Amends the start of premium exemption and benefit coverage relative to private plan substitution approvals.
- Establishes application fee for substitution of private plans.
- Adds a section establishing the process for requesting advisory rulings.
A public hearing on the new rules will be held September 17 in Augusta. Public comments will be taken until September 30.
The final rules must be established prior to January 1, 2025.
Get notified of announcements regarding the Maine Paid Family Medical Leave program.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
-
Los Angeles, Ca46 minutes agoMan dies after violent solo crash in Sherman Oaks
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoPriority Waste CEO shares progress on plan to fix disruptions, delays across Metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoThe San Francisco Church That Holds America’s Secrets
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoCrews battle large fire at Pilates studio in Uptown Dallas, officials say
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoalaïa clads first miami boutique in pink mosaic tiles, from interior to facade
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoLooking for a lodging adventure? Beat the heat at a floating B&B. – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoLavender festival, Tennyson Street Fair and more free and cheap things to do in July
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle’s solution for the middle-class housing squeeze: government housing | CNN Business
