An Act To Provide Equitable Treatment to State Employees
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 1619
Committee: Labor
Sponsors: RICHARDSON, TREAT, CARR, COLWELL, SMITH, DAGGETT, DAVIS, EDMONDS, LEMONT
Amends: 26 MRSA §664, 26 MRSA §670-A

Legislative Document 
No. 1619 
H.P.1198 
House of Representatives, May 20, 2003 
An Act To Provide Equitable Treatment to State Employees 
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed. 
/Jl~ 
'frJ.1iId£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative RICHARDSON of Brunswick. (GOVERNOR'S BILL) 
Cosponsored by Senator TREAT of Kennebec and 
Representatives: CARR of Lincoln, Speaker COLWELL of Gardiner, McNEIL of Rockland, 
SMITH of Van Buren, Senators: President DAGGETT of Kennebec, DAVIS of Piscataquis, 
EDMONDS of Cumberland, LEMONT of York. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. I. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§3, ,D, as enac ted by PL 1995, c . 
305, §l, is amended to read: 
D. Public employees, except those employed by the executive, 
judicial or legislative branch of the State; 
Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §670-A is enacted to read: 
§670-A. 
Remedies for overtime wage violations involving state 
employees 
Notwithstanding section 670, in an action brought to recover 
unpaid overtime wages for an employee of the executive, judicial 
or legislative branch of the State, the judgment or award is 
limited to the unpaid overtime compensation adj udged to be due, 
without liquidated damages or attorney's fees. 
An action for 
unpaid overtime wages for an employee of the executive, judicial 
or legislative branch of the State must be brought within 2 years 
after the cause of action accrued, except that a cause of action 
arising from a willful violation of the overtime wage payment law 
must be 
commenced within 3 years after the cause of action 
accrued. 
Overtime wages are recoverable by employees of the 
executive, 
judicial or legislative branch beginning with the 
later of the date the cause of action accrued and the date the 
applicable limitations period began. 
Sec. 3. 39-A MRSA §I02, sub-§II, ,A, as amended by PL 2001, c. 
710, 
§18 and affected by §19, is further amended by amending 
subparagraph (1) to read: 
(1) 
Persons 
engaged 
in maritime 
employment 
or 
in 
interstate or 
foreign 
commerce 
who 
are 
within 
the 
exclusive jurisdiction of admiralty law or the laws of 
the United States, except that this section may not be 
construed to exempt from the definition of "employee" a 
person who is employed by the State and is thereby 
barred by the State's sovereign immunity from bringing 
a claim against that person's employer under admiralty 
law or other laws of the United States for claims that 
are otherwise cognizable under this Act; 
Sec. 4. Application. 
This 
Act 
applies 
to 
overtime 
hours 
worked on or after the effective date of this Act. 
Page l-LR2l5l (1) 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends certain state labor laws to equalize the 
treatment of state employees to the treatment of private sector 
employees. 
Recent United States Supreme Court cases have ruled 
that the State, as an employer, can not be sued under certain 
federal employment laws unless the State consents to be sued. 
Instead of waiving immunity to allow the State to be sued under 
federal labor law, this bill amends state labor laws to provide 
remedies to state employees under state law. 
The bill includes state employees 
in the 
law requiring 
employers 
to 
pay 
time-and-a-half 
for 
overtime 
hours 
worked. 
Currently all public employees are exempt from that requirement. 
As amended by this bill, the law would continue to exempt local 
government employees 
from the law. 
The bill also amends the 
remedy provision so that state employees who are not paid the 
appropriate overtime 
wage 
recover only the 
amount 
of 
unpaid 
wages, not liquidated damages or attorney's fees as provided for 
private sector employees. 
It also provides for a 3-year statute 
of limitations for violations of the minimum wage law for state 
employees if the violation of the law is willful. 
The bill 
applies only to overtime hours worked on or after the effective 
date of the Act. 
The bill amends the workers' 
compensation law to provide 
that state employees who are barred from suing the State under 
admiralty 
law 
or 
certain federal 
laws 
because 
of 
sovereign 
immunity are not excluded from coverage under the state workers' 
compensation law.