MMC Extend Benefits to Domestic Partners: 
As of January 1, Maine Medical Center, one of southern Maine’s largest employers, began extending benefits coverage to its employees’ domestic partners.  Coverage includes health, dental, family medical leave and bereavement benefits to domestic partners and children.  To qualify their partner, employees must show that they have a “long-term, intimate and committed relationship” of at least one year.  Maine Med joins UNUM, the University of Maine and a handful of smaller employers in Maine who offer domestic partner benefits.

No Jury Trial for Whistleblower Claims:
The Maine Law Court recently upheld a lower court’s ruling that a Plaintiff claiming whistleblower retaliation against her former employer was not entitled to a jury trial on her statutory claims. DiCentes v. Michaud, 1998 ME 227(October 7, 1998).  The court found that where a plaintiff’s cause of action is equitable in nature, such as that provided by the Maine Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, the nature of the relief sought does not control whether that plaintiff has a right to have his or her claim heard by a jury.  The Court also vacated imposition of a civil penalty against the Plaintiff’s former supervisor, a high school principal.
BIW Owes Retroactive Vacation Time:

An arbitrator recently determined that BIW owes roughly 5,000 workers retroactive vacation time going back to August 1997. He ruled that vacation time credits began accruing when BIW’s new union contract went into effect, rather than at the beginning of the next calendar year.  Although union and management had not discussed effective dates during contract negotiations, the arbitrator determined that a delayed accrual date could not have been understood between negotiators or implied in their discussions. The total value of the vacation time at issue has been estimated at more than $4 million.