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AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine voters may not have realized the minimum wage hike they approved also means more overtime pay.

A state law on the books says when the minimum wage goes up, so does the salary level for employees eligible to be exempt from overtime rules.

For example, a retail worker who makes at least $23,660 a year is exempt from overtime. But when the minimum wage increases to $9 in January, that level will rise to $27,000 annually.

Maine businesses and the state’s labor department weren’t concerned during the campaign last fall, when the federal government had proposed more lenient overtime rules.

But Republican President-elect Donald Trump is expected to quash those rules, which are facing a lawsuit by states and governors, including Maine Rep. Gov. Paul LePage.


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