Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §852-A is enacted to read:

§852-A.__Permanent replacement workers prohibited

An employer may not deny a former employee who left employment due to a labor strike or lockout the opportunity to return to the position held by that employee immediately prior to the employee's leaving employment if the reason for the denial is that the employer hired a new employee to fill that position during the labor strike or lockout.

SUMMARY

This bill prohibits an employer from refusing to rehire an employee who was on strike or was locked out of employment if the reason for the refusal is that a replacement employee has been hired during the strike or lockout. Current federal case law allowing in some instances replacement workers to permanently replace workers who were on strike or were locked out is based on dicta from a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1938, NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Tel. Co., 304 U.S. 333.