An Act Regarding Pay Equality
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0278
Committee: Labor and Housing
Sponsors: BREEN, CHIPMAN, MOONEN, JACKSON, MILLETT, ROSEN, VITELLI, WOODSOME, BRYANT
Amends: 5 MRSA §4572, 26 MRSA §628

Legislative Document
No. 278
S.P. 90
In Senate, January 22, 2019
An Act Regarding Pay Equality
Reference to the Committee on Labor and Housing suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BREEN of Cumberland.
Cosponsored by Senator CHIPMAN of Cumberland, Representative MOONEN of Portland 
and
Senators: President JACKSON of Aroostook, MILLETT of Cumberland, ROSEN of Hancock, 
SANBORN, L. of Cumberland, VITELLI of Sagadahoc, WOODSOME of York, 
Representatives: BRYANT of Windham, McCREIGHT of Harpswell.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §4572, sub-§1, ¶A, as amended by PL 2005, c. 10, §11, is 
further amended to read:
A.  For any employer to fail or refuse to hire or otherwise discriminate against any 
applicant for employment because of race or color, sex, sexual orientation, physical 
or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry or national origin, because of the 
applicant's previous assertion of a claim or right under former Title 39 or Title 39-A 
or because of previous actions taken by the applicant that are protected under Title 
26, chapter 7, subchapter 5-B; or, because of those reasons, to discharge an employee 
or discriminate with respect to hire, tenure, promotion, transfer, compensation, terms, 
conditions or privileges of employment or any other matter directly or indirectly 
related to employment; or, in recruiting of individuals for employment or in hiring 
them, to utilize any employment agency that the employer knows or has reasonable 
cause to know discriminates against individuals because of their race or color, sex, 
sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry or national 
origin, because of their previous assertion of a claim or right under former Title 39 or 
Title 39-A or because of previous actions that are protected under Title 26, chapter 7, 
subchapter 5-B;.
(1)  This paragraph does not apply to discrimination governed by Title 39-A, 
section 353; and
(2)  Evidence of discrimination with respect to compensation includes, but is not 
limited to:
(a)  An employer, either directly or indirectly through an employment agency 
working on behalf of the employer, inquiring about or seeking the wage 
history of a prospective employee from the prospective employee or a current 
or former employer or requiring that a prospective employee's prior wage 
history meet certain criteria unless an offer of employment that includes all 
terms of compensation has been negotiated and made to the prospective 
employee, after which the employer or employment agency may inquire 
about or confirm the prospective employee's wage history.  If a prospective 
employee has voluntarily disclosed wage history information, without 
prompting by the employer or employment agency, the employer or 
employment agency may seek to confirm or permit a prospective employee 
to confirm such information prior to an offer of employment; or
(b)  An employer prohibiting an employee from disclosing the employee's 
own wages or from inquiring about or disclosing another employee's wages;
Sec. 2.  26 MRSA §628, first ¶, as amended by PL 2009, c. 29, §1, is further 
amended to read:
An employer may not discriminate between employees in the same establishment on 
the basis of sex by paying wages to any employee in any occupation in this State at a rate 
less than the rate at which the employer pays any employee of the opposite sex for 
comparable work on jobs that have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort and 
responsibility.  Differentials that are paid pursuant to established seniority systems or 
merit increase systems or difference in the shift or time of the day worked that do not 
discriminate on the basis of sex are not within this prohibition.  An employer may not 
discharge or discriminate against any employee by reason of any action taken by such 
employee to invoke or assist in any manner the enforcement of this section.  An employer 
may not prohibit an employee from disclosing the employee's own wages or from 
inquiring about or disclosing another employee's wages if the purpose of the disclosure or 
inquiry is to enforce the rights granted by this section.  Nothing in this section creates an 
obligation to disclose wages.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Maine Human Rights Act to provide that evidence of 
discrimination with respect to compensation includes an employer seeking information 
about a prospective employee's prior wage history before an offer of employment, 
including all compensation, to the prospective employee has been made.  It provides that 
this discrimination is also evidenced by an employer requiring that a prospective 
employee's prior compensation history meet certain criteria.  The bill broadens a 
provision in the current equal pay law to prohibit an employer from preventing 
employees from discussing or disclosing other employees' wages and makes the practice 
a violation of the Maine Human Rights Act as well.