Covered Employees

Practically all workers are covered under the Maine Workers' Compensation Act (the Act), but there are a few important exceptions:

A. Agricultural Employees

Depending on the date of injury, the following agricultural employees are excluded from coverage:

Injuries before 09/19/85. Excluded from coverage: (1) all seasonal or casual farm laborers, and (2) full-time farm laborers when there was a total of four or fewer employed (39 M.R.S.A. §21).

All Injuries on or after 09/19/85. Excluded from coverage are: (1) seasonal or casual agricultural or aquacultural laborers if the employer has sufficient employer's liability insurance (39-A M.R.S.A. §401(1)(B)), and (2) all other agricultural or aquacultural workers where six or fewer (not including owners' families) are employed, but only if the employer has sufficient employer's liability insurance (39-A M.R.S.A. §401(1)(C)). On May 31, 1997, the Legislature clarified that seasonal or casual workers are also not included in computing the limit of "six or fewer." Since this provision was enacted as "clarification," it very well may apply to injuries prior to that date. There is also an exception pertaining to certain farm workers harvesting wood (see below).

B. Maritime Employees

A crewman on a vessel who is within the exclusive federal jurisdiction of admiralty law is not covered under the Workers' Compensation Act (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)(A)(1)).

C. Certain Corporate Officers

The executive officer of a charitable corporation is excluded from coverage unless specifically included in the contract of insurance (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)). A sole proprietor or partner of an unincorporated business is excluded unless specifically included in the insurance policy.

D. Household Workers

Persons who work in "domestic service" are not covered at all. This probably includes babysitters, maids, and household cleaners.

E. Independent Contractors

Independent contractors are not employees, and are therefore not covered. Independent contractors are those who perform services for another under contract, but who are not under the essential control or superintendence of the other person (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(13)). For example, a carpenter hired by a homeowner to work on his house generally would be considered an independent contractor, not an employee of the homeowner.

Members of a logging crew working for a landowner may be employees or independent contractors depending on the degree of control exercised by the landowner over the crew's work. Factors which should be considered include whether the landowner is in the business of cutting and selling logs, the degree of control the landowner exerts over hours of work, whether the loggers supply their own tools, and whether the landowner has the right to supervise the day-to-day methods of the work rather than just the end result. Some further guidance is provided by 39-A M.R.S.A. §102(13).

The Department of Labor will, on request by a worker, employer or insurance carrier, give an advance determination of status before employment begins. These determinations, however, only create a rebuttable presumption of status in any subsequent claim (39-A M.R.S.A. §105).

F. Prisoners

A jail or prison inmate injured while working is not covered unless the injury occurred while the prisoner was on work release or was a county prisoner serving a sentence of 72 hours or fewer and assigned to work outside the jail (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)(E)).

If a person receiving workers' compensation benefits is later sentenced to a term of imprisonment, his benefits are forfeited during the sentence, unless the injury occurred while the employee was on work release. This provision only applies to injuries on or after 08/04/88 (39-A M.R.S.A. §11(E)).

G. Loggers

Employees of an "agricultural employer when harvesting 150 cords of wood or less each year from farm wood lots" are not considered employees "covered" provided that such an employer is covered under an employer's liability insurance policy. (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)). A second provision applies to any landowner who contracts to have wood harvested from such landowner's property. Loggers removing wood from the property are considered to be employees unless "at the time the landowner enters into the contract with the contractor [and annually thereafter], the landowner requests and receives a certificate of insurance ...." This provision is retroactive to all dates of injury, but may be vulnerable to constitutional challenge since it may retroactively enlarge a landowner's contractual liability (39-A M.R.S.A. §401(4)). New legislation provides that where a log harvester cancels its workers' compensation insurance, it shall within three business days provide written notification to the landowner and to any employee covered by the workers' compensation insurance policy.

H. Certain Shareholders - Waiver of Coverage

Coverage can be waived in writing by any owner of 20% or more of the shares in a stock corporation and by the owner of any amount of shares in a professional corporation. If coverage is waived by the shareholder, it can also be waived for that person's parent, spouse or children (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)(A)(4)). Coverage can be waived by a parent, spouse, or child of a sole proprietor, a partner of a partnership, or a member of a limited liability company, but only if the Board finds that such a waiver is not a prerequisite condition to employment.

I. Maritime and Longshore Workers

Longshore workers, and those who repair and build ships, are covered by the Maine Act as well as the federal Longshore Act, and can generally choose which system to file a claim under.

Crew members injured while on board their ships are usually under exclusive federal maritime jurisdiction, and may not claim benefits under the Maine Act (39-A M.R.S.A. §102(11)(A)(1)).