What Maine’s New Employer Surveillance Law Means for Maine Employers

Maine employers who monitor their workforce, whether through productivity software, GPS, call recording, or cameras, have a new compliance obligation effective July 14, 2026.

On January 11, 2026, “An Act to Regulate Employer Surveillance to Protect Workers” (L.D. 61) became law without the Governor’s signature as Public Law 2025, chapter 524, enacting a new subchapter at 26 M.R.S. § 620-A. With this law, Maine joins New York, Connecticut, and Delaware in regulating workplace surveillance. Maine’s law imposes significant disclosure requirements, imposes substantive limits on certain monitoring practices, and gives employees the right to refuse monitoring software on their personal devices.

This post walks through who and what the law covers, the disclosure obligations to current and prospective employees, and practical compliance steps for businesses of every size.

Under the new law, an employer may not use employer surveillance unless the employer notifies the employee before beginning the use of employer surveillance. An employer that wants to monitor, or continue to monitor, employees may generally do so as long as they provide advance notice and, as discussed below, annual written notice thereafter.

Who Is Covered?

The statute is incredibly broad. It defines “employer” as “any private or public employer, including the State and political subdivisions of the State.” There is no small-business carve-out. With equal breadth, the law defines “employee” as “an individual who provides services or labor for an employer for wages or other remuneration.” This broad definition covers at least full-time, part-time, seasonal, and remote workers performing services in Maine, and may extend even further.  

Who Is Not Covered?

Equally important is what the statute deliberately leaves alone. Three exclusions protect common, legitimate business practices:

1. Safety and security cameras. The definition of “employer surveillance” expressly does not include “the use by an employer of surveillance cameras for security or safety purposes.” A camera installed to deter theft, monitor a loading dock, or protect a cash-handling area is outside the statute.
2. GPS and safety devices on employer-owned vehicles. The “use of global positioning system tracking or other safety devices on vehicles owned by the employer but operated by the employee” is also excluded.
3. Personal care services settings. The law does not apply to surveillance installed by an employer, patient, client, or unpaid caregiver in a setting where personal care services are expected to be provided. This protects, for example, in-home monitoring where a family or client has placed cameras in a residence in which a home-care worker provides services.

The law also clarifies that it does not limit an employer’s ability to comply with state and federal laws governing security, safety, and the transmission and handling of data.

What Counts as “Employer Surveillance”? 

“Employer surveillance” is also incredibly broad in the law. It is defined as the monitoring of an employee “through the use of an electronic device or system, including but not limited to the use of a computer, telephone, wire or radio or an electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical system” which covers a broad scope of gathering information.

The Two Substantive Limits Beyond Notice

1. Private-space audiovisual monitoring. Under § 620-A(3), an employer may not use audiovisual monitoring in an employee’s residence, personal vehicle, or on the employee’s property as a means of surveillance unless the monitoring is required by the employer for the duties of the job. With Maine’s substantial remote and hybrid workforce, this provision deserves attention: an “always-on” webcam requirement for home-based staff may be restricted unless genuinely required by the job’s duties.
2. Personal devices. Under § 620-A(4), an employee may decline an employer’s request to install data-collection or transmission applications on the employee’s personal electronic devices. This is effectively an opt-out right. Employers operating “bring your own device” (BYOD) programs cannot compel monitoring software on a worker’s own phone or laptop. The practical workaround is to issue company-owned devices where monitoring is a business need.

Disclosure Requirements.

Section 620-A creates a layered set of notice obligations. Treat them as distinct:

• Advance notice before monitoring begins. Under § 620-A(2), surveillance may not start until the employer has notified the employee. For any employer surveillance, notice must precede deployment.
• Annual written notice to current employees. Under § 620-A(5), an employer using surveillance must provide written notice at least once per calendar year to all current employees that the employer engages in employer surveillance. This is a recurring, written obligation.
• Interview disclosure to prospective employees. Also under § 620-A(5), an employer using surveillance must inform a prospective employee of employer surveillance “during the employment interview process.”

Penalties and Enforcement

Although there is no private cause of action and the fines of $100-$500 for each violation are modest, the phrase “each violation” leaves room for argument about whether penalties accrue per employee, per monitoring tool, or per incident — aggregate exposure across a workforce could climb quickly.

What Does This Mean For You?

Compliance is achievable for any employer. Here are several steps you can take to ensure you are in compliance.

1. Decide what, if any, surveillance is needed, review your options, and ensure your surveillance apps and processes are not gathering information from private spaces.
2. You must disclose employer surveillance to all employees before it begins, to all current employees at least once annually in writing, and to all prospective employees during the interview process. So, before July 14, incorporate these written materials into your interview packets, provide written notice to all current employees, and set a plan distribute written notice alongside your annual anti-sexual harassment/discrimination trainings or other regular events and document it.
3. Develop a notice schedule and redevelop or amend job descriptions, duties, and requirements if surveillance is required for them to be done safely, securely, or if other regulation or necessities compel it.

Bottom Line.

Under this law, employers do not have to abandon legitimate monitoring — they have to be open about it, keep audiovisual monitoring out of employees’ private spaces absent job necessity, respect employees’ control over their own devices, and renew their disclosures every year. Employers of every size should use the runway before the July 2026 effective date to inventory their monitoring practices, confirm what falls within the safety and fleet-vehicle carve-outs, and stand up a simple, repeatable notice process. The cost of compliance is low; the cost of being a Department of Labor enforcement example is not.

If you have questions on Maine’s new employer surveillance laws, contact Cyrus Cheslak or another member of Verrill’s Labor and Employment practice group.