An Act to Fairly Compensate Teachers for Overtime Hours

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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1492
S.P. 607 In Senate, April 8, 2025
An Act to Fairly Compensate Teachers for Overtime Hours
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator TIPPING of Penobscot.

Page 1 - 132LR1524(01)
1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§3, ¶D, as amended by PL 2003, c. 423, §1 and
3 affected by §5, is further amended to read:
4 D. Public employees, except those employed by the executive or judicial branch of the
5 State and teachers;
6Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 423, §2 and affected by
7 §5, is amended to read:
84. Compensatory time. To the extent permitted under the federal Fair Labor
9 Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 United States Code, Section 207(o), the overtime
10 pay requirement applicable to executive or judicial employees as described in subsection
11 3, paragraph D may be met through compensatory time agreements. This subsection does
12 not apply to teachers.
13Sec. 3. 26 MRSA §670-A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 423, §3 and affected by §5, is
14 amended to read:
15§670-A. Remedies for overtime wage violations involving state employees
16 Notwithstanding section 670, in an action brought to recover unpaid overtime wages
17 for an employee of the executive or judicial branch of the State, except for teachers, the
18 judgment or award is limited to the unpaid overtime compensation adjudged to be due,
19 without liquidated damages or attorney's fees. An action for unpaid overtime wages for an
20 employee of the executive or judicial branch of the State, except for teachers, must be
21 brought within 2 years after the cause of action accrued, except that a cause of action arising
22 from a willful violation of the overtime wage payment law must be commenced within 3
23 years after the cause of action accrued. Overtime wages are recoverable by employees of
24 the executive or judicial branch, except for teachers, beginning with the later of the date
25 the cause of action accrued and the date the applicable limitations period began.
26SUMMARY
27 This bill extends paid overtime protections to teachers. It excludes teachers from the
28 public employee exemption to entitlement to paid overtime. With respect to teachers
29 employed by the executive branch, the bill entitles them to the same remedies as regular
30 workers and exempts them from the provisions of law regarding remedies for overtime
31 wage violations involving employees of the executive or judicial branch of the State.
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