Oregon

On July 22, 2022 and August 22, 2022, the Oregon Employment Department (OED) published its latest rules governing Oregon’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (PFMLI) program. The PFMLI program will be funded by employer and employee contributions in the form of payroll deductions beginning

On September 28, 2022, amendments to Oregon’s Equal Pay Act excluding hiring and retention bonuses from the definition of “compensation” are set to expire.

On July 8, 2022, in Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc ., the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeals granting the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration. The court concluded that because nothing in the arbitration agreement prohibited the plaintiff from being

On May 9 and 10, 2022, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Oregon OSHA) adopted final rules on heat illness and wildfire smoke.

In 2019, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed the Paid Family Medical Leave Act, which established a paid family and medical leave insurance (PFMLI) program for Oregon employees. On April 27, 2022, the Oregon Employment Department (OED) filed proposed administrative rules with the Oregon Office of

After becoming the first state to ban real estate “love letters,” Oregon’s novel law has been found to violate the First Amendment and enjoined from enforcement by a federal Court in Oregon.

On March 21, 2022, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) adopted a permanent rule , effective April 1, 2022, that expands the reasons employees can use leave under Oregon’s paid sick and safe leave law during a public health emergency.

The Oregon legislature has passed amendments to the Workplace Fairness Act clarifying that workplace agreements with a release of claims cannot include confidentiality or nondisparagement provisions, among other clarifications and changes.

Oregon employers may want to be aware that on March 7, 2022, Governor Kate Brown signed into law amendments to the state’s Equal Pay Act detailed in Senate Bill (SB) 1514. As a result, Oregon employers may offer vaccine incentives, hiring bonuses, and retention bonuses until 180 days after the

The primary employment-related bills passed in Oregon’s 2022 legislative session relate to pay equity and the Workplace Fairness Act. Oregon employers in particular sectors may also want to be aware of recently passed and pending legislation that addresses overtime eligibility for agricultural worke

In 2019, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the Workplace Fairness Act (OWFA), which took full effect as of October 1, 2020. Among other things, the law prohibits employers from requiring employees to enter into agreements that would prevent them from disclosing conduct constituting discrimination an

The Oregon Legislative Assembly recently passed Senate Bill (SB) 1514, extending the expiration date of temporary amendments to Oregon’s Equal Pay Act. The act prohibits employers from “discriminat[ing] between employees on the basis of a protected class in the payment of wages or other compensation

On January 31, 2022, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) published permanent rules relating to COVID-19 vaccination and masking requirements in healthcare settings, just a few days after issuing similar rules for K-12 schools. The permanent rules replaced temporary rules that expire after 180 days.

On January 13, 2022, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) announced that because the Supreme Court of the United States has stayed the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), it “w

Oregon operates a state plan that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has approved that applies to both public and private employers. Accordingly, Oregon employers are subject to the state OSHA’s standards rather than the federal OSHA standards. Oregon OSHA may adopt an eme

Changes to Oregon employment laws taking effect next year will be keeping human resources professionals very busy this holiday season and into the new year in the Pacific Northwest.

When the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new emergency temporary standard (ETS) on November 4, 2021, Oregon OSHA had only 30 days to adopt its own standards, until December 4, 2021. However, in light of a federal court order staying the federal ETS, Oregon OSHA rec

The plaintiffs were not likely to succeed in showing their individual interests in remaining unvaccinated outweighed Oregon’s interest in public health and welfare to slow the spread of COVID-19, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon concluded in denying a request for a temporary restraining order

An amendment to the Oregon Safe Employment Act signed by Governor Kate Brown creates a “rebuttable presumption” of discrimination or retaliation if an employer takes an adverse action against any employee or prospective employee who engaged in certain protected activities within 60 days.

On October 18, 2021, in a 55-page opinion, an Oregon federal district court denied a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) recent orders requiring that educational and health workers and certain state executives obtain the COVID-19 vaccine (“V