Maine · reporting-time · 26 M.R.S. § 639-A · PL 2025, c. 418
Maine show-up is the lesser of two hours at the regular rate or the shift you were actually scheduled.
26 M.R.S. § 639-A (PL 2025, c. 418) is new. Report at the employer’s request and the employer cancels or reduces the scheduled shift, and the floor is the lesser of two hours at your regular hourly rate or the total pay for the shift you were initially scheduled. A 1-hour day on an 8-hour schedule at $20 is $40 — not New Hampshire’s unconditional 2 hours, and not Connecticut restaurant’s 2 hours at minimum wage. Documented good-faith notice not to report is a defense. Weather, disaster, illness, and workplace injury are statutory exceptions. Punches prove the report; scheduled hours versus furnished hours is the reduction. Unpaid lunch minutes come out of hours furnished, so a bona fide meal on a shorted shift is a punch-gap the weekly hour box cannot see. Hour-entry weekly totals cannot see that gap.
Read the statute: lesser of 2 hours or the scheduled shift
Fetched the official Revisor text 26 M.R.S. § 639-A and the Maine Department of Labor’s enacted-law PDF LD 598 / S.P. 282 (PL 2025, c. 418) (law without governor’s signature 24 June 2025). § 639-A(2): “On any day an employee reports to work at the request of an employer and the employer cancels or reduces the number of hours in an employee’s scheduled shift, the employee must be paid the lesser of: A. Two hours of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay; and B. The total pay for the shift for which the employee was initially scheduled.”
§ 639-A(3): a documented good-faith effort to notify the employee not to report turns the wages under subsection 2 off. If the employee reports after an unsuccessful attempt, the employer assigns available duties; if there are no duties, subsection 2 still pays. § 639-A(4) exceptions: adverse weather; natural disaster or civil emergency; illness or medical condition of the employee; workplace injury of the employee.
Coverage is labeled, not gated. Employer: at least 10 employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in a calendar year. Employee excludes seasonal industry as defined in § 1251(1) and a public-employer employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Scheduled 8h, furnished 1h @ $20 → lesser of $40 or $160 = $40
Scheduled 1h, furnished 30 minutes @ $20 → lesser of $40 or $20 = $20
Furnished the full scheduled shift → no extra
Identical in/out (0 furnished) on an 8h schedule @ $20 → $40
In scope
- Punch-in/out to prove the employee reported at the employer’s request
- Scheduled hours versus hours furnished (cancel or reduce)
- Lesser of 2 hours at the regular rate or the initially scheduled shift’s pay
- Good-faith notice defense and weather/illness/injury exceptions as toggles
- FLSA weekly 40 on hours worked; reporting-time dollars are not hours worked
Out of scope
- NH RSA 275:43-a (unconditional 2 hours at regular)
- CT restaurant E1 (2 hours at MW) and CT mercantile D2 (4 hours at regular)
- MA 3 hours at basic MW, RI 3× regular, NY 142 / 146 call-in
- Gating the 10-employee / 120-day / seasonal / public-CBA coverage tests in the math
- A lunch premium — Maine § 601 is a break mandate, not a wage hour
FAQ
What is Maine reporting-time pay under 26 M.R.S. § 639-A?
On any day an employee reports to work at the request of an employer and the employer cancels or reduces the number of hours in the scheduled shift, the employee must be paid the lesser of two hours of pay at the regular hourly rate or the total pay for the shift for which the employee was initially scheduled. Clock in and out prove the report. Scheduled hours versus furnished hours is the reduction. A 1-hour day on an 8-hour schedule at $20 is $40, not $160.
When does the Maine show-up guarantee not apply?
§ 639-A(3): an employer that makes a documented good-faith effort to notify the employee not to report is not liable. § 639-A(4): the section does not apply if the employee is not required to work or is unable to work due to adverse weather, a natural disaster or civil emergency, an illness or medical condition of the employee, or a workplace injury. Both are toggles on this page.
Who is covered under § 639-A?
Employer means an employer that employs at least 10 employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in a calendar year. Employee does not include an individual employed in a seasonal industry as defined in § 1251(1), or an employee of a public employer covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Coverage is labeled on this page, not gated in the math.
Is this the same as New Hampshire’s two hours at the regular rate?
No. New Hampshire RSA 275:43-a is two hours at regular whenever you report, with no scheduled-shift cap. Maine is the lesser of two hours at regular or the originally scheduled shift’s pay, and only when the employer cancels or reduces that shift. Connecticut restaurant E1 is two hours at the minimum rate, not the regular rate.
