Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§3, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 305, §1, is amended to read:

D. Public employees, except those employed by the executive, judicial or legislative branch of the State;

Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §670-A is enacted to read:

§670-A.__Remedies for overtime wage violations involving state

employees

Notwithstanding section 670, in an action brought to recover unpaid overtime wages for an employee of the executive, judicial or legislative branch of the State, the judgment or award is limited to the unpaid overtime compensation adjudged to be due, without liquidated damages or attorney's fees.__An action for unpaid overtime wages for an employee of the executive, judicial or legislative branch of the State must be brought within 2 years after the cause of action accrued, except that a cause of action arising from a willful violation of the overtime wage payment law must be commenced within 3 years after the cause of action accrued.__Overtime wages are recoverable by employees of the executive, judicial or legislative branch beginning with the later of the date the cause of action accrued and the date the applicable limitations period began.

Sec. 3. 39-A MRSA §102, sub-§11, ¶A, as amended by PL 2001, c. 710, §18 and affected by §19, is further amended by amending subparagraph (1) to read:

(1) Persons engaged in maritime employment or in interstate or foreign commerce who are within the exclusive jurisdiction of admiralty law or the laws of the United States, except that this section may not be construed to exempt from the definition of "employee" a person who is employed by the State and is thereby barred by the State's sovereign immunity from bringing a claim against that person's employer under admiralty law or other laws of the United States for claims that are otherwise cognizable under this Act;

Sec. 4. Application. This Act applies to overtime hours worked on or after the effective date of this Act.