Both sides to appeal ruling on Portland’s hazard wage
The Portland Regional Chamber is appealing part of Monday s ruling that said voters had the legal authority to set a higher emergency wage scale.
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The Portland Regional Chamber said Wednesday it is appealing a judge’s ruling that upheld a temporary hazard wage for people who work in Portland during a declared emergency.
The chamber and five businesses had filed suit after Portland voters approved a referendum proposal in November that set a schedule for raising the minimum wage in the city and also mandated that employers pay time-and-a-half to employees who have to report to work during declared emergencies, such as the one Maine is operating under during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A Superior Court justice said Wednesday he will rule soon on the legality of a new Portland ordinance that requires hazard pay for minimum wage workers during declared emergencies.
But Justice Thomas Warren also said he expects the case to be appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court no matter what he decides.
More than 60 percent of voters in November supported a minimum wage proposal that will gradually increase that rate from $12 to $15 an hour by 2025. That initiative also included a provision that increases the minimum wage by 50 percent for people who report to Portland workplaces during declared emergencies, such as the ongoing statewide coronavirus emergency. Right now, those workers would receive at least $18 an hour under the new rule.