New year in Portland brings new fees, higher minimum wage
Starting Jan. 1, employers in Portland must pay their workers at least $10.10 an hour — $2.60 higher than the state minimum.
However, few businesses are expected to be affected by the increase, because most employees in Portland already make about $10 an hour, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The Maine Department of Labor has raised concerns about how the ordinance would be enforced and to whom it would apply.
The department worries there isn’t a clearly defined process for complaints to the city. The Southern Maine Workers’ Center has the same concern.
“We all know that labor laws are only as strong as the means with which they are enforced,” Drew Christopher Joy, the group’s executive director, said in a recent newsletter. “Portland’s ordinance isn’t as strong on enforcement as it should have been, and the city is going to have to learn — for the first time — how to enforce labor law. That’s why the Southern Maine Workers’ Center will be doing more than celebrating the new ordinance: We’ll (also) be out talking to low-wage workers about how the law is working, and available to anyone who needs support because their employer hasn’t paid them what they are owed under the law.”
State officials and labor advocates are concerned the ordinance will create confusion for workers and employers, while establishing an onerous process for aggrieved workers.
The Portland Community Chamber of Commerce has estimated that only 1,000 workers will benefit from the higher minimum wage. The Maine Restaurant and Innkeepers Association predicted minimal impact for its membership.
Peter Handy, owner of Bristol Seafood, a seafood processor, said only a few employees make less than $10 an hour, but he plans on increasing his starting wage to $11 an hour as of Jan. 1.
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