Maine salary history ban: 26 M.R.S. 628-A for recruiters

Maine bars employers from asking about or using a job candidate's compensation history until an offer that includes all terms of compensation has been negotiated and made. The rule is 26 M.R.S. section 628-A, enacted in 2019 by Public Law 2019, chapter 35. Maine's version is built around timing. It does not forbid the subject forever; it forbids it while pay is being decided, and lets the employer ask or confirm once the full offer is on the table.

Maine has also added a pay range posting rule, LD 54, which creates a different kind of pay-history duty: keeping records of each employee's own pay history at your company. The two are easy to confuse, so this page separates them.

The statute

Subsection 2 of section 628-A reads:

"An employer may not use or inquire about the compensation history of a prospective employee from the prospective employee or a current or former employer of the prospective employee unless an offer of employment that includes all terms of compensation has been negotiated and made to the prospective employee, after which the employer may inquire about or confirm the prospective employee's compensation history."

Subsection 3 excludes inquiries made under a federal or state law that "specifically requires the disclosure or verification of compensation history for employment purposes." Subsection 1 sets out the legislature's reasoning: basing pay on compensation history "directly perpetuates" wage inequality, and an employer's knowledge of that history is "directly related" to the practice. That finding explains why the ban covers using history, not just asking.

Who is covered

The section applies to "an employer" and does not set an employee-count threshold. Unlike Hawaii or Nevada, it does not name employment agencies or agents. That gap is not a safe harbor for recruiters. When an agency asks a candidate about pay because the client wants the number, the employer is getting the history through the agency, and the employer's later use of it is banned in its own right. Treat client searches for Maine roles as if the rule applies to you directly.

What is banned and what is allowed

"All terms of compensation" and "negotiated"

The trigger for asking is demanding. The offer must include all terms of compensation, so a verbal "we're thinking around $80,000" is not enough, and neither is a base salary with the bonus still to be decided. It must also have been "negotiated and made." The statute does not define either word, but the plain reading is that negotiation is finished, not that it is about to start.

That leaves little practical value in post-offer history questions. Once the full package has been negotiated and offered, the pay decision is made. Asking afterwards mostly creates a record that could look as if history fed the decision. Many employers simply never ask, and that is the simplest way to comply.

Two different "pay histories": 628-A and LD 54

LD 54, enacted as Public Law 2025, chapter 771 and approved by the Governor on April 24, 2026, added 26 M.R.S. section 622-A. It does three things:

• Pay range in postings for employers with 10 or more employees, or a statement that the job is paid solely on commission. "Posting" includes recruitment done directly or "indirectly through a 3rd party," which brings agency ads within the rule.
• Range on request: an employee who asks must be told the range for the position they hold.
• Records: every employer must keep a record of each position an employee has held and their pay history in each, for the length of employment and three years after.

The record-keeping duty is about the pay history of your own employees. It does not override section 628-A. You are required to keep what you paid people; you are still forbidden from asking a candidate what someone else paid them. Penalties for both sections run through the same section 626-A. For the posting rule and its start date, see our Maine pay transparency guide.

Enforcement and penalties

• Fines. Section 626-A makes anyone who violates section 628-A "subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500 for each violation."
• Who can sue. Under section 628-A(4), a civil action may be brought by or on behalf of a person affected by a violation, or by the Department of Labor on that person's behalf.
• Damages. The plaintiff "may also seek judgment for compensatory damages."

The fine is modest next to Delaware or Nevada, but "each violation" can add up across a requisition, and a damages claim from a candidate paid less than peers is the larger risk.

Agency intake for Maine roles

Because section 628-A speaks only of "an employer," agency recruiters sometimes assume the question is the client's problem. In practice the agency is where most history questions get asked, so settle the point at intake:

• No history requests. Agree in writing that the client will not ask you, or the candidate, for current or past pay before a complete offer is made. If the client wants post-offer confirmation, agree who will do it and on what written offer.
• The range. Get it before you advertise. If the client has 10 or more employees, your ad is a "posting" made "indirectly through a 3rd party" under section 622-A and needs the range.
• The submittal. Expectation, flexibility, notice period and timing constraints such as a bonus date, with no figures for current or past pay. A candidate submittal template with no history field makes this the default.
• References. Reference calls before an offer must not touch pay. Use a script that leaves it out entirely, such as the candidate reference call script.

The point of doing this at intake is timing. Once a hiring manager has heard a candidate's current salary, the statute's ban on "use" is very hard to prove you kept. It is easier never to let the figure reach them.

A Maine script

Opening the pay topic

"This role pays $62,000 to $71,000 (example figures), plus benefits. What are you looking for?"

When the candidate offers their current pay

"Thanks. In Maine we don't use pay history to set an offer, so let's focus on what you want. You said $68,000?" Record the expectation only; what not to write in interview notes explains why.

When the client asks

"Maine doesn't allow asking about or using pay history until a full offer has been negotiated and made. Her expectation is $68,000 and she is firm on remote Fridays."

When the candidate brings a competing offer

A competing offer is a current offer, not compensation history, but the line is thin if it comes with "and my current employer would match." Note the expectation and the stated reason, and check with counsel before anyone verifies figures. For the conversation itself, see counteroffer conversation script.

Maine checklist

1. Remove salary history questions from applications, screens and reference templates for Maine roles.
2. Post the range in every ad, including agency ads, if the employer has 10 or more employees.
3. Ask expectations, with wording from salary expectation questions.
4. Do not verify prior pay unless a complete offer has been negotiated and made, and ask why it is needed.
5. Keep your own employees' position and pay records for employment plus three years.

For Maine's New England neighbors, see the Massachusetts salary history ban, and for every state, salary history ban states.