Attorneys at Law
Under both federal law and Maine law, employers have to allow unpaid break time for nursing mothers. If during the time the employee is not completely relieved of all work duties (don’t overthink this), the time must be paid. Maine law requires that the time must be provided for up to 3 years after birth;Read More
Starting in January 2019, Maine’s minimum wage goes up to $11.00 an hour. Is there a new poster that goes with that change? Yes there is, and you can print it free from this link: https://www.maine.gov/labor/posters/2018/minimumwage.pdf That minimum wage rate also affects the minimum that must be paid to salaried employees in order to keepRead More
Your managers are key to many aspects of your organization – everything from employee engagement to reducing liability to knowing the employees enough to recognize when they are impaired. They are also your front line when employees are asking for time off for medical issues, which may trigger liability to offer disability or family medicalRead More
You have an employee who has been out on FMLA leave and wants to return to work. The employee says he is fully recovered. You are not so sure. Now what? Or maybe the employee has been out on company sick leave or disability leave due to cancer treatments and they now want to returnRead More
Whether it’s a job interview, a presentation, or an inspection by a government auditor, first impressions count. That may be old news or common sense for most but we don’t always think of how to apply that to the work place and being ready for an OSHA or other inspection. How does that play outRead More
The first step is to know what “stalking” is in Maine. In Maine, a Protection from Harassment Order is a civil means to get someone who is harassing you to stay away from you. 5 M.R.S. § 4651. You do not need to have a prior relationship with the person to qualify for protection. IfRead More
Reasonable Accommodation for What?? Although there are many arguments supporting medical use of marijuana, the problem for employers is the impact on safety in the workplace and the risk of violating federal law, which still lists marijuana as illegal. So what happens when an employee with a disability comes to you and requests a “reasonableRead More
You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. And if any of it’s on a computer, it could disappear or be taken before you know it if steps aren’t taken to protect it. So, in addition to the advice we provided in the article that just went out on cybersecurity, here is a sisterRead More
In preparation for the Central Maine Human Resources Association’s program on what employers need to know about IT, we wanted to get everyone thinking about IT policies that any company might have. Most companies use computer-based equipment for some number of tasks, even if they don’t think of themselves as dependent on tech. For example,Read More
If you want to have a non-compete agreement, you can do that with an employee . . . but not an independent contractor. Remember, you can’t control an INDEPENDENT contractor. Moreover, a truly independent contractor must have their own company doing their own work separate from your own company. If you have people working forRead More
© 2025 Skelton Taintor & Abbott, Attorneys At Law