Maine State Chamber of Commerce v. Department of Labor

2025 ME 82
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedAugust 26, 2025
DocketKen-25-53
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 ME 82 (Maine State Chamber of Commerce v. Department of Labor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maine State Chamber of Commerce v. Department of Labor, 2025 ME 82 (Me. 2025).

Opinion

MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Reporter of Decisions Decision: 2025 ME 82 Docket: Ken-25-53 Argued: July 15, 2025 Decided: August 26, 2025

Panel: STANFILL, C.J., and MEAD, HORTON, LAWRENCE, and DOUGLAS, JJ.

MAINE STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE et al.

v.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR et al.

MEAD, J.

[¶1] This case is before us on report from the Superior Court (Kennebec

County, Daniel Mitchell, J.) pursuant to M.R. App. P. 24(a). The report submits

three questions of law regarding the legality and constitutionality of rules

promulgated by the Maine Department of Labor in administering the Paid

Family and Medical Leave Act, P.L. 2023, ch. 412, § AAA-7 (effective Oct. 25,

2023) (codified as subsequently amended at 26 M.R.S. §§ 850-A to 850-R

(2025)), which established a Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program.

We accept the report and determine that the Department’s rules do not conflict

with the Act and do not constitute a taking of private property for public use

under either the Maine Constitution or the United States Constitution. 2

I. BACKGROUND

[¶2] The facts are drawn from an agreed statement of facts and five

exhibits submitted by the parties as part of the consented-to motion to report

to the Law Court. See Payne v. Sec’y of State, 2020 ME 110, ¶ 4, 237 A.3d 870.

[¶3] In 2023, the Legislature enacted the PFML program. See 26 M.R.S.

§§ 850-A to 850-R. Starting May 1, 2026, the Act allows a covered individual to

take up to twelve weeks of leave from their employment for certain qualifying

reasons. Id. §§ 850-B(2), 850-P. The PFML program pays the covered

individual through a state-run fund that accumulates deposits, called

“contributions,” “premiums,” or “premium contributions,” made into the fund

by employers1 and self-employed individuals who elect to be covered by the

program. See id. § 850-A(7) (defining “contributions” as “the payments

remitted by an employer or self-employed individual to the fund, as required

by this subchapter”); id. § 850-F (requiring that employers and self-employed

individuals pay “premiums” or “premium contributions” and requiring

employers to remit “employer contribution reports and premiums”). Maine

1The starting premium is 1% of wages. 26 M.R.S. § 850-F(3)(A). An employer with 15 or more employees may deduct up to half of the premium attributable to an employee from the employee’s wages and must remit to the Department the entire premium. Id. § 850-F(5)(A). An employer with fewer than 15 employees must remit to the Department an amount equal to half of the premium and may deduct from an employee’s wages all of the premium remitted. Id. § 805-F(5)(B). For ease of discussion, this opinion will describe all premiums as being paid by the employer. 3

businesses were required to start remitting quarterly premiums into the fund

on January 1, 2025. Id. § 850-F(2).

[¶4] The PFML program allows private employers to apply to the

Department to substitute an approved private plan for the PFML program. Id.

§ 850-H(1). The statute clarifies that “[i]n order to be approved, a private plan

must confer rights, protections and benefits substantially equivalent to those

provided to employees under this subchapter [26 M.R.S. §§ 850-A to 850-R].”

Id. If a private employer substitutes a private plan for the PFML program, the

employer “is not required to remit premiums . . . to the fund.” Id. § 850-F(8).

[¶5] Sections 850-H(8) and 850-Q direct the Department to adopt rules

to implement the PFML program by January 1, 2025. Throughout 2024, the

Department engaged in a rulemaking process. After two rounds of comments,

the Department finalized its rules on December 4, 2024, and the rules took

effect on January 1, 2025. See 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1 (effective Jan. 1, 2025).

[¶6] At issue in this case are the Department’s promulgated rules related

to premiums and the substitution of private plans for the program. The PFML

program and the Department’s rules required all employers to begin remitting

premiums into the fund in January 2025. 26 M.R.S. § 850-F(2); 12-702 C.M.R.

ch. 1, § X(B). Rule 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1, § XIII(A)(2) allows employers to apply 4

for approval of a private plan after April 1, 2025, which is the first day of the

second quarter of 2025. The Department instituted this delay in the interest of

administrative feasibility because it was the Department’s understanding that

it would take insurance companies three to four months after the final rules

were issued to write private policies that would satisfy the requirement that

the coverage of the private plan be substantially equivalent to the PFML

program (the “substantial-equivalence requirement”). If a private plan is

approved, “[t]he exemption from the obligation to pay premiums begins on the

first day of the quarter in which the substitution is approved.” Id. § XIII(A)(4).

The rules clarify that “[t]he employer is responsible for premiums provided

under the Act and this rule until the effective date of [the] exemption[,] and

premiums owed prior to the effective date of [the] exemption must be remitted

and are non-refundable.” Id. § XIII(A)(4)(b). The Department explained in a

response to comments that this component of the application process “was

developed balancing the interest of employers and the interest of establishing

a fiscally sound Paid Family and Medical Leave Fund.”

[¶7] Following the adoption of the rules, insurers began writing policies

that would satisfy the substantial-equivalence requirement and, if approved,

would allow private employers to quickly substitute a pre-approved private 5

plan for the PFML program. See id. § XIII(D). The Maine Bureau of Insurance

and the Department would then review these policies, which were expected to

be approved by April 1, 2025. Fourteen insurance companies submitted

proposed private plans to the Bureau and Department for review. Starting on

April 1, 2025, employers began to apply to the Department to offer substitute

plans using pre-approved private plans.2 Since January 2025, employers have

been remitting premiums to the fund.3

[¶8] On January 13, 2025, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and

Bath Iron Works (BIW) brought a complaint against the Department and its

Commissioner, Laura A. Fortman, to challenge 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1,

§ XIII(A)(4)(b). Both plaintiffs sought relief pursuant to 5 M.R.S. § 8058(1)

(2025) to have the regulation declared invalid. BIW, individually, brought

several claims: (a) a claim pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 80C and 5 M.R.S.

§§ 11001-11008 (2025) for a “judgment that 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1,

2 The parties dispute the nature of the Department’s approval of employers’ applications for pre-approved substitute private plans. The plaintiffs describe the Department’s approval as a mere formality. The Department acknowledges that the approval of pre-approved substitute private plans will be “fairly streamlined,” but contends that section 850-H of the Act requires the Department to independently review applications to substitute private plans and that those approvals are not automatic. 3 At the time of the consented-to motion to report the questions to the us, Bath Iron Works estimated that it would remit approximately $620,000 in nonrefundable premiums for the first quarter of 2025. 6

§ XIII(A)(4)(b) is null and void on the basis that it violates the governing

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Swisher International, Inc. v. Schafer
550 F.3d 1046 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon
260 U.S. 393 (Supreme Court, 1922)
Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City
438 U.S. 104 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Yee v. City of Escondido
503 U.S. 519 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel
524 U.S. 498 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Garelick v. Sullivan
987 F.2d 913 (Second Circuit, 1993)
Commonwealth Edison Company v. United States
271 F.3d 1327 (Federal Circuit, 2001)
Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management Dist.
133 S. Ct. 2586 (Supreme Court, 2013)
Molasses Pond Lake Ass'n v. Soil & Water Conservation Commission
534 A.2d 679 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1987)
Liberty Insurance Underwriters, Inc. v. Estate of Faulkner
2008 ME 149 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2008)
MC ASSOCIATES v. Town of Cape Elizabeth
2001 ME 89 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2001)
Maine Beer & Wine Wholesalers Ass'n v. State
619 A.2d 94 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1993)
Conservatorship of Emma
2017 ME 1 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2017)
Maine Senate v. Secretary of State
2018 ME 52 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2018)
Clare Hudson Payne v. Secretary of State
2020 ME 110 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2020)
Davis v. Secretary of State, Division of Motor Vehicles
577 A.2d 338 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1990)
Lydon v. Sprinkler Services
2004 ME 16 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2004)
Robert Bocko v. University of Maine System
2024 ME 8 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2024)
Tyler v. Hennepin County
598 U.S. 631 (Supreme Court, 2023)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 ME 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maine-state-chamber-of-commerce-v-department-of-labor-me-2025.