Minimum Wage in Maine – weekly, monthly, annually

In Maine, the minimum wage is $12.75 per hour. That is $5.50 more than the federal minimum wage rate, which is $7.25.

Under Maine labor laws, all businesses operating in the state with one or more employees are automatically covered by state labor laws, and this includes all private and public employers, irrespective of size or profit.

Some employees are exempt from the minimum hourly wage, including tipped service workers who regularly receive over $30 per month in gratuity payments, some agricultural workers, and taxi drivers, just to mention a few categories (more below).

Employers must pay tipped workers direct wages of at least $6.38 per hour, and if the service worker’s combined income (including tips) does not average the weekly state-required minimum pay, the employer needs to pay the difference.

In the City of Portland, hourly workers must receive at least $13 an hour, and service employees who are making more than $100 a month in tips must earn no less than $6.50 per working hour, but they must make at least the weekly minimum equivalent. If not, the employer must compensate.

Full-time students engaged in a university work-learn project may receive 85 percent of Maine’s minimum wage, so 10.84/hour, if the job is part-time for no more than 20 hours/week.

Maine Paycheck Calculator

With the Maine Paycheck Calculator, it is simple to convert your hourly wage to weekly, monthly, or annual earnings.

How to use our Maine paycheck calculator

1. Start with entering your hourly wage.
2. Then, enter the number of hours you work each week.
3. Our paycheck calculator transforms your hourly wage into weekly, monthly, or annual earnings.

How does the Maine paycheck calculator work?

Understanding a paycheck is, for most employees, not that complicated. Workers with regular jobs usually get a paycheck every week, every two weeks, or once a month. Then at the year’s end, they will receive their tax forms.

So, if an employee receives a periodical paycheck, understanding his or her gross and take-home salary is a relatively simple process. For employees who get paid by the hour, however, things may become a bit more complicated, and that’s where our paycheck calculator comes in handy. The paycheck calculator converts hour pay to periodical earnings per week, month, or year.

These results are generated by multiplying your base hourly salary by the number of hours, weeks, or months you work yearly, assuming that you’re working 40 hours per week.

Minimum Wage in Maine

So the Maine minimum hourly wage is $12.75 an hour. This translates to $102 per day, $510 per week (at 40 work hours), $2210 per month, and $26,520 per year.

Not all Maine workers will receive the state minimum wage of $12,75 per hour. There are categories of employees that are exempt from receiving this rate. The minimum standard does not apply, for instance, to tipped workers, some full-time college and high school students that work up to 20 hours a week, and more categories.

Maine minimum wage exemptions

As said before, not every worker in Maine gets the state minimum rate of $12.75 an hour. Some individuals are exempt from Maine’s minimum pay regulations under federal or state law. The following is not a full list of exempt categories but lists the main groups:

• In Maine, tipped employees may be paid 50% of the minimum wage standard in cash (so $6.38 an hour) and are allowed to keep their tips in full. Maine doesn’t allow mandatory tip pooling. If a tipped worker doesn’t make the minimum wage on a weekly basis, the employer needs to compensate for the difference.
• New employees under the age of 20 may be paid a trainee compensation of only $4.25 for the initial 90 days of employment.
• If full-time enrolled college and high school students have a part-time job of 20 hours a week max, they may receive 85% of Maine’s minimum rate (so 10.84), but only if it concerns a work-learn program at a university.
• Taxi drivers, agricultural workers, farm workers, seasonal recreation camp workers, some fishermen, home assembly workers, and an employer’s family members may hold exempt status as well.

Maine overtime wage

Unless they hold specific exempt status, Maine employees will receive overtime pay for work hours in excess of 40 per week. The standard overtime rate is 1.5 times the regular pay rate (so at least $19.12 per overtime hour).

Employers can allow or deny overtime hours, but in case overtime hours are worked, those hours must be compensated in line with Maine’s labor requirements. Overtime hours are measured by the week; not per day.

All Maine employers must display state-designated minimum pay posters in highly visible places. These posters inform the employees of Maine’s minimum wage rules and their labor rights under state and federal law.

What is work time?

According to the U.S. Working Time Regulations, all hours during which an employee is engaged in assignments or duties for his or her employer as regarded as work hours. Work time includes hours for relevant education and training as well.

When an employee has to travel for the employer, for example, to go from client to client or to visit a client, those travel hours are regarded as work time. Time spent on commuting from home to work and vice versa is not considered as work time.

We can also say that work time consists of all hours an employee receives wages or is entitled to get paid for carrying out activities initiated and/or controlled by his or her employer and that benefit the employer.

Please note that this post doesn’t contain legal advice. If you have any questions about Maine’s minimum wage policies or minimum wage compliance, consult a tax professional or a tax attorney.