Maine lawmakers held a work session yesterday on a bill that would dramatically increase the overtime threshold in the state. LD 402 would guarantee overtime pay for all Maine workers earning less than $55,000 per year, a significant increase over the current threshold of $36,000 per year. The bill, currently pending in the Committee on Labor and Housing, was the subject of a public hearing last year, but the committee formally held the bill over for further deliberation in 2020. LD 402 would incrementally increase the current overtime threshold (pegged at 3,000 times the state minimum wage – currently $12 per hour) to $57,000 by the year 2023, with annual increases thereafter based on the average annual rate of increase of weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers. Opposition to the proposal is being led by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce along with a broad coalition of some 40 different trade groups representing different business interests throughout the state.