Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Maine

The claim itself survives, and the damages generally do not. Because Maine requires no exhaustion, a person who is too late at the Maine Human Rights Commission can still bring the civil action within the two-year period in 5 M.R.S. 4613(2)(C). But 5 M.R.S. 4622(1) conditions fees, civil penal damages and compensatory and punitive damages on a prior commission complaint, so the practical effect of missing 300 days is usually financial rather than jurisdictional. Talk to a Maine employment lawyer quickly rather than assuming either that the case is over or that nothing was lost.

The statute does not answer that, which is why you should count conservatively. 5 M.R.S. 4611 runs the 300 days from "the alleged act of unlawful discrimination" and adds nothing else. There is no discovery alternative in the text, no last-occurrence rule for a continuing pattern, and no reference to the date you were fired. Count from the earliest incident you want the commission to consider, keep a dated log of every incident, and ask a Maine employment lawyer before you rely on a later start date.

Almost certainly yes. 5 M.R.S. 4553(4) defines an employer as any person in this State employing any number of employees, so there is no headcount floor at all and a two-person Maine business is covered where federal Title VII would need 15 employees. The narrow exclusions are an individual employed by that individual's parents, spouse or child under 4553(3), and a non-profit religious or fraternal corporation as to employment of its own members of the same religion, sect or fraternity under 4553(4). Neither exclusion applies to disability discrimination.

The definition says it does. 5 M.R.S. 4553(4) includes "any person outside this State employing any number of employees whose usual place of employment is in this State," which is written for exactly this situation and is rare language among state fair employment statutes. If your usual place of employment is in Maine, the fact that your employer has no Maine office does not by itself put you outside the Maine Human Rights Act. Record where you actually work, since that is the fact the definition turns on.

Yes, and this is where the federal number of 15 reappears. Under 5 M.R.S. 4613(2)(B)(8), compensatory and punitive damages are available in cases of intentional employment discrimination with respondents who have more than 14 employees. Under 4613(2)(B)(7), civil penal damages are available other than in employment discrimination cases where the respondent has more than 14 employees. Coverage under the act does not depend on headcount, but the category of money available does, so it is worth knowing your employer's approximate employee count early.

It covers harassment on the basis of protected class generally. The Maine Human Rights Commission's employment regulation, 94-348 C.M.R. ch. 3, sec. 10(1), reaches unwelcome advances, comments, jokes, acts and other verbal or physical conduct related to protected class, giving conduct "of a sexual, racial, or religious nature" as its examples, where the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. Section 10(3) also reaches harassment by people who are not employees, weighed against the extent of the employer's control. The protected classes themselves are listed in 5 M.R.S. 4572(1)(A).