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AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed her own proposal that set out to cover farmworkers under Maine’s minimum wage laws, telling lawmakers Tuesday she took offense to them changing the bill to allow workers to sue over alleged labor violations.
Tuesday’s veto was surprising, as the Democratic governor had unveiled her bill in March following months of feedback from a committee she set up to study the issue after vetoing a similar proposal last year from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland.
The governor’s bill initially put agricultural workers under the state’s $14.15 an hour minimum wage starting Sept. 1, raising that rate annually with cost of living increases. It also would require employers to keep a “true and accurate” record of hours that farmworkers put in, retain records for at least three years and provide workers with a statement detailing their wages.
But Mills said Tuesday she turned on the bill after the Legislature’s labor committee amended it to allow workers to obtain private counsel and sue employers for alleged violations. Mills had instead preferred letting the Maine Department of Labor handle potential violations.
“Knowing that my original bill provided an adequate enforcement remedy, I did not — and still do not — believe it is appropriate to authorize a private right of action carte blanche, particularly in the case of farms, because I am deeply concerned that doing so would result in litigation that would simply sap farmers of financial resources and cause them to fail,” Mills wrote in Tuesday’s veto message.
Mills also said her office informed lawmakers of her concerns and offered a compromise that would allow workers to seek a “right-to-sue letter” from the labor department, but the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the bill without that change.
“I do not take the decision to veto this bill lightly. I do not want to veto this bill,” Mills wrote. “But the Legislature’s actions leave me little choice. I do not believe Maine farmers should face the prospect of privately initiated lawsuits, which would almost certainly lead to losing more farms in the long run.”
