The Maine State Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are touting a bipartisan bill to amend the state's paid family and medical leave law, which they say would make the program more sustainable for employers.
The current law establishes a weekly benefit of up to 90% of an employee's wages, depending on how much that person makes.
Chamber president Patrick Woodcock, speaking during a virtual roundtable with several businesses and trade groups last week, said the new bill would establish an across-the-board weekly benefit of 65% of an employee's wage.
"That improves the solvency and encourages workforce participation," Woodcock said.
The Chamber's Jake LaChance said another key change would be capping the financial penalty for employers that don't properly administer the program at $50 per affected employee, down from 1% of payroll in the current language of the law.
"The current penalty structure," he said, "is fairly heavy handed when it comes to penalizing the employer for any small mistake that can be made, whether it be with the wage reporting requirements to the Department of Labor or to the actual remittance of wages."
Gov. Janet Mills signed the program into law in 2023, joining a dozen other states with similar programs.
The legislature's labor committee is scheduled to take public testimony on the bill on Wednesday.
