PORTLAND (WGME) – Maine companies that violate labor laws regarding teenage workers are now more expensive.

The new rule significantly increases penalties, something the Department of Labor has been pushing for since the spring.

According to Labor Standards Director Dr. Jason Moyer-Lee, this is now a stronger deterrent.

Earlier this year he said that “breaking the law” must be “more costly” than complying with it.

Before the new law went into effect, the I-Team found that initial fines for wage violations started as little as $100 and were sometimes negotiated to much lower amounts.

“If you look at the last few years, the average amount of penalties we are able to collect every time an employer breaks the law is less than $3.00,” Moyer-Lee said.

Currently, under the new regulations, most violations start with a maximum penalty of $1,000 and then are reduced depending on factors such as the size of the company or previous violations.

In the spring, the CBS13 I-Team from Hospitality Maine, which represents 1,400 companies, said the change was too far-reaching.

“$1,000 is just one violation,” said Nate Cloutier, director of government affairs for Hospitality Maine. “It often happens that you find violations and not just one. It’s because something is happening and you usually don’t know it’s a problem.”

“It is the employer’s responsibility to know the law and follow it,” Moyer-Lee said.

Moyer-Lee expects fines to increase four to five times higher than current collections under this new, superior structure. The money from the fines will go to the state’s general fund.

The department has also launched “proactive investigations” targeting industries with suspected repeat violations, with the hospitality industry leading the way according to 2023 data.