Scope of Maine’s Equal Pay Law Likely to Land in State Court

A federal appeals court judge in Boston signaled that the court may ask the Maine Supreme Court to clarify whether the state’s Equal Pay Law prohibits sex-based disparities in employee pay regardless of the employer’s intent.

During oral arguments Tuesday at the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Judge Kermit Lipez said that a lower federal court’s ruling appears to be a “fair reading” of the statute’s definition of discrimination on the basis of sex. But that decision, which carries significant workplace implications, presents a question of pure Maine state law that lacks state court precedent to provide ...