2007 Oregon Legislative Updates

As we start the New Year, the attorneys at Williams, Zografos & Peck want to take the opportunity to let you know about several legislative changes that affect employers in Oregon. Most of these changes became effective on January 1, 2008. Below, please find a brief summary of the most significant changes in the law affecting employers.

1. Minimum Wage Increase - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Effective January 1, 2008, Oregon's minimum wage is increasing to $7.95 per hour.

2. OFLA - (Generally applies to employers with 25 or more employees in Oregon in this or the previous year): Oregon Family Leave Act has been revised to include Grandparents and Grandchildren under the definition of family member for use of OFLA. Also, the law no longer permits employers to run workers' compensation absences concurrently with OFLA, possibly increasing the amount of protected leave time available to employees. In addition, employees who refuse bona fide light duty offers while on workers' compensation leaves are automatically placed on OFLA leave if they are otherwise eligible for OFLA.

3. Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Protection - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality or bisexuality have been added to the categories of people protected from discrimination in hiring, firing, discipline and other terms and conditions of employment.

4. Domestic Violence Victim Leave - (Applies to Oregon employers with 6 or more employees): Under the new law, covered employers must provide eligible employees (employees who have worked for at least 180 days and worked an average of 25 or more hours per week in the past 180 days) with a "reasonable" amount of leave if they or their minor child or dependent are the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances. Leave may be taken to attend court proceedings, obtain medical or mental health services, relocate or make a residence safer, among other reasons. Employers are permitted to require a limited amount of verification of the need for leave and must treat all information received as confidential.

5. Expanded Safety Committee Obligations - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Oregon has expanded its safety committee obligations for small employers. Under the prior law, only employers with more than 10 employees were obligated to maintain workplace safety committees. Under the new law, every public or private employer must establish and administer a safety committee or hold safety meetings.

6. Non-Compete Agreements - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Oregon law has significantly restricted an employer's ability to obtain a valid non-compete agreement from its employees. Prospective employees must be informed of a non-compete requirement at least 2 weeks prior to their first day of work in a written offer letter and will generally only be valid for exempt employees in administrative, executive or professional work (predominantly intellectual, managerial or creative work with discretion and independent judgment) who are paid on a salary basis and earn more than the medial family income for a 4 person family (currently about $64,000). Also, otherwise valid non-competes are limited to two years' duration.

7. Arbitration Agreements - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Under Oregon law, Arbitration Agreements will not be enforceable unless the employer informs the employee in a written employment offer at least two weeks before the first day of employment. Alternatively, the agreement may be entered into upon subsequent bona fide advancement (more than a mere pay raise).

8. Personnel Records - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Oregon has set a deadline of 45 days to provide employees with copies of their personnel files (following a request) or face a potential penalty of up to $1,000.

9. Corrections to wages - (Applies to all Oregon employers): Employers on notice that any employee has been underpaid by more than 5% of their gross wages during employment must correct the underpayment within 3 days. Otherwise, the correction may be made on the next regular payday.

10. Rest Breaks For Breast Feeding - (Applies to Oregon employers with 25 or more employees): Oregon law has been amended to require employers to provide reasonable rest period to accommodate an employee who needs to express milk for her child. Reasonable rest breaks include at least 30 minutes per every 4 hours of work or major fraction thereof. The breaks need not be paid and can overlap with other legally required meal and rest breaks whenever possible (however, the employer must still comply with the pay requirements under the meal and rest period regulations). Reasonable efforts must also be made to provide a private place for the employee to express milk.

11. New Federal OSHA Regulation Requires Employer To Pay For PPE- In addition to the changes in Oregon law, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has recently updated its regulations on Personal Protective Equipment. Under the new regulations, which go into effect on February 13, 2008, employers must pay for all PPE required by OSHA with a few limited exceptions such as non-specialty safety toe foot wear and non-specialty prescription eyewear, provided those items are allowed to be worn off the job.

Although the federal OSHA may allow employers to pass some costs on to their employees, it is important to be mindful of state law minimum wage obligations and restrictions on wage deductions that could impact your ability to pass costs on to employees. For more information on your options and obligations, please contact a Williams, Zografos & Peck attorney.

12. New Federal I-9 forms - The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a new I-9 form, which all employers are required to use beginning on December 26, 2007. The new form can be found at: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf and has the note "(Rev. 6/05/07)N" at the bottom of the page.

We are recommending that Williams, Zografos & Peck clients revise their Employee Handbooks and Policy Manuals as necessary to ensure those Handbooks and Manuals accurately reflect these legislative changes. At the same time, we are encouraging clients to incorporate the broad definition of "retaliation" dictated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the recent Burlington Northern Case, and to make other limited revisions to ensure their organizations are protected.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO UPDATE YOUR POLICIES, PLEASE EMAIL:

CHANDRA HATFIELD (chatfield@wzplaborlaw.com),
DIAN RUBANOFF (drubanoff@wzplaborlaw.com),
KATHY PECK (kpeck@wzplaborlaw.com),
TODD LYON (tlyon@wzplaborlaw.com),

OR CALL ANY OF OUR ATTORNEYS AT 503-699-1300.