Bar Harbor Chamber Hears About Bill Meant to Give Workers Three Months of Paid Medical Leave
Bar Harbor Merchants Ends After 17 Years
BAR HARBOR—There is currently no guarantee that if Maine workers get sick, give birth, or have to care for a dying or ill family member that they can have paid family medical leave. Some Maine legislators have been working for years to change that. The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce hosted a business round table Wednesday morning that discussed how proposed legislation could potentially allow three months of paid medical leave to Maine workers in a state-administrated program.
Representative Kristen Cloutier (District 94, Lewiston) and Senator Maddie Daughtry (Brunswick, assistant senate majority leader) have worked on the issue for three years, Cloutier said. Maine is the only state in New England without a PFML program, and 13 states and Washington, D.C. have one. State legislatures in Minnesota and Michigan could pass state programs this year.
“With unemployment at 2.4% this is another thing that puts us one step behind,” Daughtry said.
If passed, a payroll tax (capped at 1 percent of wages, half from workers and half from employers) would fund the program. It has met resistance from some republican legislators. Governor Janet Mills wants changes to the legislation for her to support it.
Alison Murtagh of WGME quoted Representative Joshua Morris of Turner as writing, “At a time when everyone is struggling with rising prices and inflation, we should not be adding to that burden by taking more money from their paychecks weekly for a program that they may never use."
Cloutier said it was potentially going to be the most worked piece of legislation the state of Maine has ever seen. The bill was submitted in February. It was heard in a 7.5 hour public hearing last week and will be worked on today.
There is a small business exemption for businesses with 15 full-time employees and under. People in those smaller businesses can access the leave, but not have surety that their job will be there when they are done. Daughtry said this is important for seasonal businesses and small businesses who might not be able to operate while holding a position open. Chamber Director Everal Eaton asked about workers on visas. As currently proposed, those workers would not factor into the calculation of the number of full-time employees in a business.
There is a citizens’ referendum with enough signatures to qualify and be on the ballot. If the bill is not passed in the legislature, the organizers of the referendum have said that they’ll submit the signatures, which will bring it to the voters.
About six people attended. The roundtable was reco5rded and will be available at the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s website.
The start-up costs are estimated at $12 million. The benefits would likely range in payments to employees from $162.7 million in the program’s first year, 2025, and $339.1 million in 2026.
The legislators have also given a presentation at the Jackson Laboratory.
In an op-ed for the Portland Press Herald, the legislators wrote,
“Most developed countries have a national paid family and medical leave policy. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not one of them. As a result, only 15% of American workers have access to any sort of paid leave, and fewer than 60% of the workforce has access to unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
“Additionally, more than 120 countries have laws requiring paid maternity leave. But in the U.S., one in four women is forced to take fewer than 11 days of parental leave after giving birth, despite a recommended six- to eight-week recovery period. Not having paid maternity leave also hurts our economy. Women are 50 percent more likely to return to work after giving birth if they have access to this benefit.”
On Thursday, a cLabor and Housing Committee of mostly Democrats recommended (8-5) that the full legislature pass the bill after a few tweaks. Those tweaks are summarized by the Bangor Daily News’ Billy Kobin,
“The newest tweaks to the bill would include tribal governments under the program, require employees to give “reasonable notice” to their employer of their intent to take paid leave unless it is an “emergency illness,” clarify that job protections for workers at companies of any size would not kick in until 120 days later and clean up some language.
BAR HARBOR MERCHANTS IS NO MORE
According to its Facebook page, the Bar Harbor Merchants is ending after 17 years.
“As a volunteer organization, we rely on individual efforts to maintain our operation,” its Facebook page read. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to dedicate the time and effort required to keep the association viable.”
Prior to this post, its page’s last public post was in February.
The organization in its current incarnation began around 2006. Another version makes newspaper obituaries in the 1950s. This incarnation began with 60 members, surprising founders with how quickly it took off as it promoted the year-round Bar Harbor businesses.
The organization’s last Facebook post continued,
”We have accomplished a lot during our years. Things we are most proud of was the establishment of the flag program. As many of you know, identifying an open business during the should season is difficult at best and the town approved uniform flags allowed for an easy visual. Our hopes are that the Chamber of Commerce takes this program over. We’ll have to wait and see. The annual dues that our members paid allowed us to support and co-sponsor several events like the Early Bird PJ Sale/ Bed races and the Midnight Madness event. As well as the 12 Days of Shopping and Dining locally event held in early December. Many locals and visitors were the recipients of many $25.00 gift Certificates handed out over the years. We are also pleased with the purchase of a large wire tree which remains lit in Agamonts Park during the Holiday season.
”We’d like to remind anyone who was fortunate to have received one of the gift certificates to make plans to redeem it now as the Association is closing out its account.
”In closing, we’d like to thank you for supporting your year-round businesses and hope that you continue to do so.”
Disclosure: About a decade ago, my daughter had a summer job with the Bar Harbor Chamber. Last year, I was the recipient of its President’s Award for the creation of the Bar Harbor Story and Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival, Park Street Playground reconstruction, and other community work work with national nonprofits and service agencies such as We Need Diverse Books, ShelterBox, and Rotary International.