Portland ends hazard pay bump, enacts face covering mandate for indoor spaces
Photo / Renee Cordes
A demonstrator on Sunday carried a sign outside Portland City Hall in support of the city's hazard pay provision.
Customers will soon have to mask up when they enter many brick-and-mortar businesses in Portland, under an emergency ordinance enacted by the City Council on Monday night.
The new requirement, designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, passed unanimously as the council called off another crisis measure — an emergency declaration that, among other things, had added hazard pay onto the city’s minimum wage.
The declaration, which had been in effect since August, resulted in the hourly wage going from $13 to $19.50 as of Jan. 1. The bump was created by a November 2020 referendum that mandated pay of 1.5 times the minimum wage whenever the city was in a state of emergency. But the law provoked legal challenges and strong resistance from Maine employers, who worried it would devastate them financially at a time when many are already struggling.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ultimately ruled the hazard wage provision would not take effect until this month. With Portland’s emergency repeal taking effect in 10 days, workers will have received the extra pay for two weeks.
The City Council’s other action, requiring face coverings inside public buildings, could have a longer-lasting impact.
The ordinance, which goes into effect Wednesday, mandates masks within most Portland buildings open to the public. But the law does not apply in public schools, churches or office space where occupants can be physically separated from the public, or portions of a gym, theater or athletic arena where everyone performing or exercising has been vaccinated and there is space, a physical barrier or ventilation separating them from the general public.
Beginning Jan. 10, businesses must post "masks required" signs that are visible to the public. For businesses who need them, the city is now obtaining supplies of window decals as well as masks.
The requirement, which will be reviewed each month by the council, also applies to buses, cabs and other public transportation vehicles. Face coverings must cover the mouth and nose.
The council originally considered the mask mandate last month, but tabled it until Monday’s meeting.
“Critical care hospitalizations in Maine have reached some of the highest numbers for the entire period of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is happening despite a high county-wide rate of vaccinations and is primarily the result of the delta and now omicron variants' contagiousness,” a city memo supporting the ordinance read.
As a result, state health officials, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials and the Maine Center for Disease Control officials, "advise the use of all preventative measures, including the use of face coverings in public indoor spaces.”
Both the hazard pay provision and the mask mandate drew comments from the public, online and in writing. Over the weekend, protesters had also gathered at City Hall in support of the extra pay.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to correct the effective date of the mask ordinance.
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