New Maine Law Requires Time Off From Work for Appointments at VA Medical Facilities

By Tara K. Burke & K. Joshua Scott

State and local leave laws are changing weekly, and sometimes even daily. For the second time this month, Maine is adjusting its leave laws. Employers in Maine will soon be required to provide veterans with time away from work to attend scheduled appointments at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities. If paid leave is available to the veteran, he or she must be permitted to use paid leave for the absence. If a veteran has no available paid leave, then the employer must allow the veteran to take unpaid leave. Veterans are required to give their employer notice of the appointment “as soon as reasonably possible.” The law goes into effect on Sept. 19, 2019.

While this new law does not mandate that employers provide paid leave, Maine recently enacted a paid leave law that, as of January 2021, will require most private employers to provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid leave annually that the employee can use for any reason. Additional information about Maine’s Act Authorizing Earned Employee Leave is available here.

***This article originally appeared on the Jackson Lewis’ Disability, Leave & Health Management blog and was reposted on the DMEC website with their permission.***