Your pay rights in Maine

An Act to Require Employers to Disclose Pay Ranges and Maintain Records of Employees' Pay Histories (LD 54) (26 M.R.S. § 622-A (Public Law 2025, chapter 771); 26 M.R.S. § 628-A (pay history))

Job posting rules in effect since July 29, 2026

Maine employers with 10 or more employees must list the pay range they will offer in job postings. Employers may not ask about your past pay before making an offer.

Who is covered

The posting rule covers employers with 10 or more employees. Two other rules apply to every employer, whatever its size: current employees can ask for the pay range of their own job, and the employer must keep pay records. A covered posting is any posting meant to recruit applicants for a specific open job that lists qualifications, made directly by the employer or through a third party such as a recruiter or job board, online or printed. The law does not say where the 10 employees must be located or how it applies to remote or out-of-state jobs.

What a job posting must show

A statement listing the range of pay the employer will offer to the person hired. A job paid only by commission can say so instead of giving a range.

Pay history

Employers may not ask you, or your current or past employers, about your past pay, or use it, until they have made an offer that includes all pay terms. If you share it on your own, the employer may confirm it. Under the Maine Human Rights Act, asking can also be evidence of illegal pay discrimination.

What you can do

See the pay range in job postings from employers with 10 or more employees.
Once hired, ask for the pay range for the job you hold, and the employer must tell you. This applies at every employer, whatever its size.
Your employer must keep a record of each job you hold and your pay in it, during your employment and for 3 years after you leave, whatever the employer's size.
Your employer cannot retaliate against you for using these rights. The Department of Labor says 26 M.R.S. § 620 protects everyone who uses rights under this chapter of the labor laws.

Where to report a posting without pay

Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards

Violations can bring a fine of $100 to $500 each under Maine's general wage-law penalty (26 M.R.S. § 626-A), which covers sections 621-A to 623, including the new § 622-A, and the pay history ban (§ 628-A). For the pay history ban, you or the Department of Labor can also sue for compensatory damages. Maine funded a new Department of Labor inspector position to enforce the posting law.

Sources

The posting law took effect July 29, 2026, the general effective date for this session's non-emergency laws, and funds a Department of Labor inspector to enforce it. Beyond its July 20, 2026 news release, the Department of Labor had published no detailed guidance on § 622-A as of the last check, including on how the § 626-A fines apply to it. Applicants have no right to request a range; the on-request right is for current employees. The pay history ban (§ 628-A) has applied since 2019; asking about pay history can also be evidence of discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (5 M.R.S. § 4577).