Maine law allows you to take unpaid leave from work when one of your family members is deployed. Here are the requirements:
- You must be the parent, spouse or domestic partner of the person deployed.
- You must have worked at your job for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours during the last 12 months.
- Your employer must have at least 15 employees.
- You do not work for the federal government.
In addition, the service member must be:
- deployed more than 180 days to an area where armed conflict is taking place
- a resident of Maine
You have the right to take family military leave if all these requirements are met. Here are the details:
- You can take up to 15 days of leave for each deployment.
- You can take this leave during the deployment or during the 15 days before or after the deployment.
- Your employer does not have to pay you for the time you are away.
- If you plan to take 5 or more workdays of leave in a row, you must give 14 days’ notice to your job.
- If you plan to take less than 5 days of leave in a row, you need to give as much notice as you can.
- You need to talk with your job to plan your leave to cause a little disruption as you can.
- Your job can ask for something in writing from the military to describe the deployment.
- Your job does not have to pay for your benefits (health insurance, etc.) while you are away, but it must allow you to maintain these benefits at your own expense.
Find the Maine law here: Title 26 MRSA §814.
Find more information about federal laws protecting activated service members and their family members on Stateside Legal.
Thanks to the Tibor and Anna Doby Veteran Support Fund for supporting our efforts to educate our military servicemembers and veterans about their legal rights.
July 2022
PTLA #772C