AUGUSTA, MAINE – October 11th, 2019 – The Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association is proud to announce their respected 2019 award recipients. Will’s Shop ‘n Save of Dover-Foxcroft as the 2019 Grocer of the Year; Coastal Maine Popcorn Co. of Boothbay Harbor as the 2019 Food Producer of the Year; and C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. of Keene, NH as the 2019 Associate of the Year.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced their final rule regarding overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Effective January 1, 2020, the one-year salary threshold to qualify for executive, administrative, or professional employee exemptions will be raised to $35,568 (up from its current $23,660). The Department also made three changes to existing regulations: the rule (1.) raises the total annual compensation level for highly compensated employees from $100,000 to $107,432 per year; (2.) allows employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive pay to satisfy up to 10% of the standard salary level; and (3.) revises the special salary levels for workers in U.S. territories.
The final rule also abandoned a proposed provision that would have mandated salary threshold increases every four years; however, they did note their intention to address future increases more regularly than before. Overall, they mark a stark change from the previous administration’s attempt to increase the salary threshold to over $47,000, which was blocked by a federal judge in 2017.
Courtesy of FMI
On Thursday, Sept. 27th, the Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association (MGFPA) hosted Maine’s 6th Annual Best Bagger Championship to honor our state’s “best” grocery checkout bagger.
Nicole Cote of the Bar Harbor Hannaford Supermarket is Maine’s 2019 Best Bagger Champion.
WHEN: Thursday, September 26th, 2019
WHERE: The Maine Mall, South Portland, ME
TIME: 5 PM – 6:30 PM
June 17th, 2019 – Augusta, ME – Governor Mills Signs Plastic Bag Ban Law. Beginning April 22, 2020 (Earth Day) single-use plastic bags will no longer be legal to provide at a retail establishment’s point of check-out. The law creates a consistent statewide single-use plastic bag policy (ban) and adds a 5¢ fee on paper bags and 4mm plastic bags (retained by the retailer).
“Beginning April 22, 2020 a retail establishment may use a recycled paper bag or a reusable bag made of plastic to bag products at the point of sale as long as the retail establishment charges a fee of at least 5¢ per bag. All amounts collected pursuant to this paragraph are retained by the retail establishment and may be used for any lawful purpose. A retail establishment may not rebate or otherwise reimburse a customer any portion of the fee charged pursuant to this paragraph.”
Click to read the Chaptered Law.
