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Expanded Family and Medical Leave
State: Maine
Subject: Family and Medical Leave, Job-Protected Leave, Domestic Partners and Leave, Military Families
Statute/Code Cite: Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, Sec. 844(1)
Summary:
The Maine family and medical leave law provides leave rights to more workers than
federal law does. The Maine law applies to workers employed in businesses with 15 or
more employees and to workers with twelve months’ tenure regardless of the number of
hours worked. The Maine law also defines family more broadly than the federal FMLA
to include domestic partners, the children of domestic partners and cohabiting siblings. However, the duration of family and medical leave under Maine law is shorter than
under the federal FMLA (ten weeks in a two-year period).
The law was amended in 2007 to permit job-protected leave for eligible workers to address the active-duty-related death or serious health condition of the worker's spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling or child when that family member has served in the state military forces or the United States Armed Forces, including the National Guard or Reserves.
This database provides short summaries of bills and statutes. The summaries are not intended to constitute legal advice. To find out how laws relate to your particular situation, you must contact a lawyer who specializes in employees’ rights, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (1-866-4USWAGE), your state labor department and/or your union.
