Maine: unused vacation when employment ends

Maine mandates earned paid leave at one hour per 40 worked, but § 637 says nothing about paying a balance out at separation — that falls to the employer's policy.

Each answer traces to the lines quoted below.

What the source says

• An employee is entitled to earn one hour of paid leave from a single employer for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours in one year of employment.
• Accrual of leave begins at the start of employment, but the employer is not required to permit use of the leave before the employee has been employed by that employer for 120 days during a one-year period.
• Accrued and unused hours from the previous year of employment must be available for use in the following year — the balance does not reset.
• Carried-forward hours may not reduce the total hours the employee is entitled to earn in the following year, up to 40 hours or the accrual limit in the employer's policy, whichever is higher.
• That last clause is the unusual part: carryover and the fresh annual entitlement are additive rather than capped against each other at the statutory floor.

Sources

What 80 hours a year looks like on a biweekly schedule

The bar below is not specific to Maine law — it shows the mechanic every schedule shares. Eighty hours a year across 26 paychecks is 3.08 hours a period. With a 40-hour ceiling the balance stops growing partway through the year, which is what a ceiling does: it halts accrual rather than deleting hours already earned.

Closing balance after a year: 40 hours — and 40.08 hours never accrued because the ceiling was reached.

Does Maine require my employer to pay out unused vacation?

Maine mandates earned paid leave at one hour per 40 worked, but § 637 says nothing about paying a balance out at separation — that falls to the employer's policy.

Can a policy in Maine erase vacation I already earned?

On use-it-or-lose-it, the source read for this page puts Maine at: Allowed with conditions. The quoted lines on this page are the basis for that, and anything the source did not settle is listed as not established.

Where did these lines come from?

From Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 § 637 — Earned paid leave. Each one was opened and read rather than summarised from another site, and the links are on this page.

Is this legal advice?

No. This page quotes public sources so you can read them yourself. It is not legal advice and it does not replace your employer’s written policy or a lawyer in your jurisdiction.