One question might be where will it be enacted first, as the Portland City Council and the Maine state legislature are both considering adoption of paid sick leave mandates for private businesses. The statewide legislation, LD369 filed by Senator Rebecca Millett, is similar to legislation she has filed in the past. It would apply to…
Read More »As we all know, many states and locales focused legislative efforts on banning plastic bags, straws and single-use bags in 2018. In that vein, we found an interesting article earlier this week on QSRWeb entitled ‘Single-use’ – QSRs ‘dirty word’ for 2019 and it may be more prescient than originally thought, speaking to an environmental…
Read More »New York’s Junior US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was the latest to throw her hat in the 2020 presidential test pool this week with her announcement that she had formed a presidential exploratory committee. More importantly to small business interests, in her late night TV show announcement, she highlighted paid family leave among a host of…
Read More »Advocates in the state of Maine are proving that ol’ adage now that Question 1 has been rejected by the voters. Just days after the initiative to add a 3.8% surcharge to incomes over the Social Security limit ($128,400/year) was rejected by voters in the election last week, the Maine People’s Alliance shifted their focus…
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These are the vacation spots that symbolize an idyllic summer: Cape Cod to Mackinac Island; Ogunquit, Maine to Hilton Head. They’re as American as apple pie. But increasingly, these hot spots have relied on foreign workers to do jobs that would otherwise go unfilled. With an unemployment rate hovering around 4 percent and a scarce…
Read More »Each year as July rolls around, and with it the start of state and municipal fiscal years, we also see many minimum wage hikes taking effect. In the interest of keeping our readers informed of these changes, we believe that the following minimum wages increases take effect Sunday: Washington DC from $12.50 to $13.25; Chicago…
Read More »An increase in the Louisiana minimum wage suffered the same fate as pay equity legislation when the senate voted down a bill that would have increased the state minimum wage to $8 in 2019 and $8.50 in 2020. Louisiana is one of only 5 states that do not have a state minimum and hence, defer…
Read More »Not really, but I didn’t want this item lost in the above paragraph! Maine, which raised the state minimum wage this month to $10/hour on its way to $12 by 2020, is now considering legislation, LD1757, that would drop the 2018 wage to $9.50/hour in July. The increase was mandated after a voter initiative was…
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Ed Wolak was a teen when his mom applied for a job at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Manchester, New Hampshire. “It was a new business to us. No one knew it was a chain,” says Wolak. His mom worked part-time at the location for a few years, and encouraged her daughter to apply. “My sister…
Read More »Members of two of Maine’s larger public employee unions have voted to ratify contracts effectively implementing right to work provisions in the state for the first time. The Maine State Employees Association (MSEA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME) accepted two year contracts that specifically eliminates the current requirement that…
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