With COVID-19 (coronavirus) impacting communities in the Northwest and around the U.S. and world, employers are wondering what role they can play in keeping their employees safe and healthy. Don’t panic! Your current policies...more
3/6/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Remote Working ,
Traveling Employee ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety ,
World Health Organization
Through a series of decisions issued in late 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has signaled a return to common sense in its approach to the rules governing labor relations. Here are a few of the...more
3/3/2020
/ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Section 7 ,
Unions ,
Workplace Investigations
As 2019 comes to an end, employers should know about important new obligations that will ring in their new year. Our Labor & Employment experts offer some guidance on critical developments in Oregon, Washington, California,...more
12/20/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Posting Requirements ,
Severance Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
This week the United States Supreme Court commenced its 2019-2020 term, during which it will examine significant questions related to the scope of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yesterday, on October 8th, the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that an estimated 1.3 million workers will soon be eligible to receive overtime or be in line for a raise. Effective January 1, 2020, the minimum salary threshold for the...more
9/25/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Standard Duties Test ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2005 (the “Bill”) on June 30, 2019, creating a new program of up to 12 weeks of paid medical and family leave benefits (the “Program”) for eligible employees and self-employed...more
7/24/2019
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Brown ,
Medical Leave ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Oregon’s Legislature just enacted the most significant legislation for Oregon employers in years. The new Workplace Fairness Act has been hailed as a #MeToo law and seems intended to curb incidents of sexual harassment in the...more
6/19/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws
In a significant win for employers, the United States Supreme Court has issued a landmark decision upholding the use of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements. This ruling permits employers across the...more
5/22/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS
It might appear that on some years, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) issues a series of decisions just as the year comes to a close, but it is not because the Board wants to give out holiday presents (or, from...more
Starting this January, Oregon employers must send their employees specific information about the Oregon and federal earned income tax credits (“EITC”) with every W-2. The notice must be sent at the same time as the W-2, in...more
Starting this Friday, October 6, employers in Oregon can no longer ask job applicants about their salary history. As part of the Equal Pay Act that Oregon enacted earlier this year, prohibiting questions about salary history...more
Employers can breathe a sigh of relief. The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) announced this week that it was removing a requirement that EEO-1 reports contain employee pay data. The now-defunct Obama-era requirement...more
Employers know that the salary rule for “white collar” exemptions from President Obama’s Department of Labor (“DOL”) was blocked by a federal court last year (we blogged about that here). That rule would have more than...more
“Equal pay for equal work.” Everyone – employees and employers alike – can agree that no workers should be paid less than others simply because of their gender, race, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. ...more
“Who will be hurt if gays and lesbians have a little more job protection?” Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals posed this question a few months ago during oral argument in a case involving a teacher...more
We are confident that employers already take employee reports of potentially unlawful activity seriously. Such internal reports can help employers investigate and eliminate unlawful conduct in the workplace. The Ninth...more
Some Oregonians are no doubt breathing clouds of relief with the introduction of Senate Bill 301, the Oregon Legislature’s proposal to protect employees from being fired for personal marijuana use. Employers, on the other...more
Employers are probably aware that OSHA’s new drug testing and anti-retaliation rule is now in effect. (See our post here discussing the rule.) However, as we blogged previously, many states have their own reporting...more
The Department of Labor’s controversial rule that required “white collar” employees to be paid at least $47,476 per year in order to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act will NOT go into effect on December 1, 2016 as...more
In the wake of the election results, the question on everyone’s mind now is: What impact will President-Elect Trump have on employers? Trump has thus far given few details on his thoughts on labor and employment. But with...more
11/21/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Barack Obama ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Contractors ,
Individual Mandate ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Pay Transparency ,
Preexisting Conditions ,
Presidential Elections ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Repeal ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Sick Leave ,
Summary of Benefits and Coverage ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
Waiting Periods ,
White-Collar Exemptions ,
Workplace Communication
The Department of Labor’s new rule that doubles the salary threshold for “white collar” exempt employees goes into effect December 1, 2016. Under that rule, employees currently exempt under the FLSA as an administrative,...more
If your company uses a class action waiver in your employment agreements and you are located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, or Washington, you are...more
The NLRB recently reversed course again to allow temporary employees provided by a staffing agency to join regular employees in a single bargaining unit without the consent of the employer or the staffing agency. Miller &...more
Employers that promote workplace safety by ensuring workers are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol after they suffer a workplace injury will soon face greater scrutiny from the Occupational Safety and Health...more
Do you hear that sound? It’s millions of workers rejoicing and employers groaning because the federal government has effectively required that employers give about four million workers a raise starting on December 1, 2016 to...more