When Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) adopted permanent rules related to COVID-19 back in May 2021, it did so with the caveat that it would repeal the rules once it determined that they were no longer...more
Prior to the pandemic, companies allowed remote work sparingly and where necessary because of the location of certain key players in other states or countries. Many employers felt that remote work was not practical, citing...more
On May 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued new recommendations for individuals who are fully vaccinated. Specifically, the CDC stated that fully-vaccinated individuals[1] can resume...more
5/21/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
GINA ,
Masks ,
Oregon ,
OSHA ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The dust has now settled on the new stimulus bill signed by President Trump on December 27, 2020. The changes to the Family First Coronavirus Recovery Act (“FFCRA”) was buried in over 5000 pages of text and provides a choice...more
12/30/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Family Medical Leave ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration
Your business and employees have just experienced an extraordinary year. We have learned new ways of working, embraced new technology, and incorporated many new legal requirements, but most importantly, we have persevered....more
12/21/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
GINA ,
Health and Safety ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13950 (the “Order”) Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping affecting all government contractors, those companies that contract with government contractors, and...more
11/4/2020
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Discrimination ,
OFCCP ,
Race Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Trump Administration
On October 21, 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) published a new guidance for use by contact tracers that clarifies what had been a somewhat fuzzy definition of “close contact.” The new definition increases the...more
With the onset of colder weather, the return of students to colleges, and pandemic fatigue, the news is that the next six to twelve weeks could be the worst yet for the pandemic. The number of positive test results is rapidly...more
The House of Representatives passed a broad piece of legislation that requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid sick leave and paid family medical leave to employees. The bill, entitled the Family First...more
On Thursday, November 14, 2019, the Oregon Court of Appeals released its decision in Maza v. Waterford Operations, LLC, 300 Or App 471 (2019), that clarified Oregon employers’ obligation to ensure that non-exempt employees...more
11/19/2019
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Question of Fact ,
Question of Law ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Job descriptions are a crucial part of recruitment and hiring, and of performing an Equal Pay Act Analysis, classifying employees for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and developing reasonable accommodations under...more
10/1/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Contract Drafting ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Essential Functions ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Job Descriptions ,
Job Duties ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour
Oregon passed several employment bills this year that will affect Oregon employers. The following article provides an update on the new laws and a list of tasks for Oregon employers to make sure that they are in compliance....more
9/6/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Breastfeeding ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Employment Practices Liability Coverage ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Hate Crimes ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Retirement Plan ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The Oregon legislature has been busy making and revising new law and this will bring legal changes to Oregon’s employment laws. We will post a complete legal update when the current legislative session ends....more
Employers with noncompetition agreements in Oregon and Washington must take note of the changes enacted by the legislature in both states. Noncompetition provisions are restrictive covenants, which can appear on their own in...more
5/21/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Moonlighting ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
Although the current economic indicators signal a healthy economy, many experts think that we will experience subdued economic growth in 2019 and 2020. In the midst of these uncertainties, some companies that grew a little...more
3/25/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Layoff Notices ,
Layoffs ,
Notice Requirements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Temporary Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act
On March 7, 2019 the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a revised rule regarding the salary required for an employee to be considered exempt from the federal overtime rules, raising the rate to an expected $679 per week...more
Potential exposure for a violation of Oregon’s Equal Pay Act is considerable. Employees alleging unpaid wages or pay equity discrimination may be awarded two years of back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney...more
12/24/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Back Pay ,
Compensation ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Job Applicants ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
Punitive Damages ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
This article is Part 4 of our series on the GDPR for U.S.-based companies. Part 1 assisted U.S.-based companies in determining whether the GDPR applies to them; Part 2 provided an overview of the GDPR’s key concepts and...more
6/11/2018
/ Confidential Information ,
Consent ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Data Retention ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Records ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes
Although the GDPR comes into effect on May 25, 2018, the breadth of its reach will continue to develop long after its effective date. Domestic companies should be aware that the rules will likely change over time. While this...more
5/25/2018
/ Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Data Protection Officers (DPOs) ,
Data Security ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Notification Requirements ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Privacy Policy ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management
In Part I of this series, we provided information about whether the GDPR applies to your U.S.-based business. In this article, we will explain the key privacy requirements of the GDPR. The GDPR is, at its heart, a regulation...more
5/21/2018
/ Cybersecurity ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Data Protection Officers (DPOs) ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Right to Be Forgotten
On May 25, 2018, the European Union (“EU”) will implement the most robust regulation of privacy data that the digital world has ever seen—commonly known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or “GDPR.” The GDPR is the...more
5/7/2018
/ Corporate Fines ,
Data Controller ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Data Subjects Rights ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information
The history of tip pooling for employers who do not utilize a tip credit has been a rocky one. Past articles on this site have chronicled an employer’s ability to pool and distribute tips to all employees, including those in...more
4/13/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On December 5, 2017, the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and requested comments by Monday February 5, 2018, regarding its proposal to rescind portions of its tip pooling regulations that...more
The Bureau of Labor and Industries issued the final rules regarding the changes to the manufacturing overtime laws on December 27, 2017. The rules became effective on January 1, 2018. BOLI promulgated the new overtime rules...more
Manufacturers who will be affected by the new changes to the overtime rules may be interested in attending a public hearing and/or providing public comment on the development of the Oregon Administrative Rules that BOLI will...more
12/5/2017
/ BOLI ,
Comment Period ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exemptions ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Manufacturers ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Public Hearing ,
State Labor Laws ,
Undue Hardship ,
Wage and Hour