Maine workers compensation reform bill signed into law

AUGUSTA, Maine—Maine Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday signed into law legislation overhauling Maine’s workers compensation system.

An Act To Review and Restructure the Workers’ Compensation System—L.D. 1913—reduces the maximum benefit for total disabilities from 80% of an employee’s weekly wage to 66% for injuries occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2013.

Among other changes, the new law creates a 10-year benefits cap for partial disabilities, although a time extension is possible for “cases involving extreme financial hardship due to inability to return to gainful employment.”

The law also eases insurers’ or self-insured employers’ ability to reduce or discontinue benefits while an appeal is pending.

More information on the new law is available here.