Oregon Supreme Court Rules That Oregon Law Follows Federal Definition of “Work Time.”

By John Dudrey on January 4, 2023 Posted in Oregon, wage and hour

In a recent decision titled Buero v. Amazon.com Services, Inc., 370 Or. 502 (2022), the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Oregon’s wage and hour law uses the same definition of “work time” as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The Buero decision resolves what had been a hotly contested legal issue for many years and clarifies that Oregon employers (most of which are subject to Oregon law and the FLSA) satisfy their legal obligation to calculate employees’ compensable time using the same legal standard for both sets of laws.

The facts of the Buero case are straightforward. The employee, Buero, worked at an Amazon warehouse that included a secure area for storing merchandise. When leaving the secured area at the end of their shifts, employees had to pass through a security screening protocol that Amazon put in place to prevent theft. The specific nature of the security screening depended on such factors as whether the employees brought bags (purses, backpacks, etc.) with them into the secured area at the start of their shifts.

Oregon Paid Leave—Upcoming Deadlines

By Melissa Healy and Caroline Sundbaum on November 3, 2022 Posted in Oregon, Updates

Oregon’s paid leave program (providing up to 12+ weeks of paid family, medical, and safe leave to eligible employees per leave year) will be here soon. Almost all businesses with employees in Oregon are required to participate in the state program, unless they have an approved equivalent plan (which can be either administered by the employer or through an insurance company). The following deadlines are coming soon:

November 30, 2022: Date by which employers seeking to obtain approval for an equivalent plan should submit their Equivalent Plan Application or file a Declaration of Intent with the Oregon Employment Department to avoid having to make contributions to the state program starting January 1, 2023. You can read more about equivalent plans, including how to submit an application, here. The Declaration of Intent form is here.

January 1, 2023: Date by which employers and employees must start contributing to the state program unless the employer has an approved equivalent plan or submitted a Declaration of Intent. (Note, however, that employers who have submitted a Declaration of Intent must hold certain contributions in trust until their equivalent plan is approved.)

The total contribution rate for 2023 is 1% of up to $132,900 in wages. Oregon employees pay 60% of the 1% contribution rate through a payroll deduction. Large employers (25+ employees anywhere, regardless of whether they are in Oregon) pay 40% of the 1% contribution rate for all Oregon employees. Contributions can be paid through this platform.

January 1, 2023: Date by which employers must post and distribute the model notice informing employees about the available paid leave benefits under the state program. The model notice must be physically posted in a conspicuous location at each Oregon work site (for example, in the employee breakroom with other required postings) and must be provided electronically or by mail to any remote workers in Oregon. The model notice is available in English here, and in other languages here.

September 3, 2023: Date by which Oregon employees start having access to paid leave benefits through the state program.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of our Labor & Employment attorneys.

California Legislature Expands Employer Obligations Regarding Payroll Transparency

By Bryan Hawkins and Robert Sarkisian on October 25, 2022 Posted in California, employer policies, News

Seemingly with every passing day the California legislature adds more obligations (and opportunities for costly missteps) to California employers. This time we are discussing California Senate Bill 1162, dubbed California’s Pay Transparency Law (“SB 1162”). SB 1162, which goes into effect beginning January 1, 2023, expands on the already high-level disclosure payroll requirements governing California employers. SB 1162 also adds to the ever-growing list of administrative headaches that employers are required to keep track of, in the words of University of Berkeley alum Marshawn Lynch, “so they don’t get fined.”

AB 2188 Leaves California Employers’ Policies on Marijuana Use up in Smoke

By Bryan Hawkins and Robert Sarkisian on October 2, 2022 Posted in California, Drug testing, employer policies, News

On September 18, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2188 into law, which prohibits employers from taking any adverse employment action against an employee in conjunction with an employee’s off-duty marijuana use.

AB 2188 makes it unlawful for employers to “discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment” for any of the following reasons:

An employee’s use of cannabis and cannabis products off the job and away from work; or
Failing an employer-mandated drug screening for having “nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites in their hair, blood, urine, or body fluids.”

Oregon Paid Leave—Now Is the Time to Think About Equivalent Plans

By Laura Rosenbaum and Caroline Sundbaum on September 12, 2022 Posted in News, Oregon

Oregon’s much anticipated Paid Leave program (formally called Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance) will be here soon. Employee and employer contributions to the state program start January 1, 2023, and employees can start applying for benefits beginning September 3, 2023.

Almost all employers with employees in Oregon are required to participate in the state program, unless they have an approved equivalent plan. The Oregon Employment Department recently released the application form to submit an equivalent plan.

Equivalent plans must be preapproved by the Oregon Employment Department, cannot cost the employee more than what they would pay into the state program, and must provide at least the same benefits to employees as the state program. For example, the plan must:

Cover all Oregon employees (including part-time and temporary) who have been continuously employed at least 30 calendar days.
Provide up to 12 weeks of paid family, medical, and safe leave per leave year (plus an additional two weeks for pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions), at a rate equal to or greater than that paid by the state program.
Allow paid leave to be taken intermittently, one day at a time.
Provide job protection rights to employees who have been employed at least 90 days.
Cover employee health insurance benefits to the same extent as for employees who are not on leave.

Deadline for California Employers to Comply with the California Privacy Rights Act

By Bryan Hawkins on September 8, 2022 Posted in California

On June 28, 2018, then California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CCPA provided significant privacy rights and protections to California consumers and placed numerous obligations on California businesses regarding the collection and sale of personal information belonging to California consumers. While the CCPA constituted a significant change for California businesses, its effect on California employers was limited. Specifically, the CCPA essentially only required most California employers to (1) provide notices when they collected personal information from their employees and (2) protect any collected personal information.

All of that changed in 2020 when California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The CPRA expands the CCPA and, for the first time, places significant obligations on California employers, which obligations go into effect on January 1, 2023. Continue Reading

Oregon Pay Equity Update: The Status of Hiring Bonuses

By Caroline Sundbaum and Karen O'Connor on August 17, 2022 Posted in COVID-19, Oregon, Updates, wage and hour

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oregon legislature amended the definition of “compensation” in the Oregon Equal Pay Act to temporarily exempt hiring/signing and retention bonuses from the limitations imposed by the Act. The temporary exemption, however, expires on September 28, 2022.

This means that starting September 28, 2022, hiring/signing/retention bonuses will once again be considered “compensation” under the Act. Under that law, employers must ensure that employees performing “work of comparable character” receive equal “compensation,” unless the difference is justified by specific “bona fide factors” listed in the statute. So if one employee receives a bonus but another does not, you must be able to distinguish between the two employees either:

On the grounds that they are not performing “work of comparable character”; or
By one of the specific “bona fide factors” in the Act.

In sum, if you began paying signing or hiring bonuses during the pandemic, and/or paid retention bonuses during this time, be aware that the “safe zone” which existed during the temporary lifting of the definition is coming to an end. Starting September 28, 2022, paying a signing or retention bonus could result in employees who perform the same jobs being paid differently – which could be a violation of the Act. You can read more about the Act here, and if you have any questions about how this affects your business, feel free to contact us.

Federal Appeals Court Affirms NLRB Decision Requiring Employer to Reinstate Employee Who Wrote “Whore Board” on Mandatory Overtime Sign-Up Sheet

By John Dudrey and Jim Shore on August 15, 2022 Posted in Biden Board, Labor, Updates

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently affirmed a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision requiring an employer to reinstate an employee whom it terminated after he wrote “whore board” on a voluntary overtime sign-up sheet. The name of the case is Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC v. NLRB, — F.4th — (D.C. Cir. 2022). As described below, Constellium offers employers a substantial (and painful) insight into how far the courts and the NLRB will bend over backwards to find that employees have engaged in protected activity in the workplace.

The facts of the case are straightforward. In 2013, Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC (“Constellium”) changed its system for scheduling overtime. The new system required employees who were interested in working overtime to sign their names on a sheet posted outside of the facility’s lunchroom. The new overtime sign-up system prompted significant objections from the company’s unionized employees, who preferred the company’s prior overtime system by which the company solicited employees individually about working overtime. The union and numerous employees filed grievances under the company’s collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) and unfair labor practice charges (“ULPs”) with the NLRB. In addition, numerous employees began referring to the sign-up sheet in conversation around the plant as the “whore board.” One employee, Jack Williams, took it a step further. Instead of just calling it the “whore board,” Williams wrote the phrase on top of the sign-up sheet, which meant that employees who wished to sign up for overtime had to affix their names to a piece of paper that referred to them as “whores.” Constellium first suspended and ultimately terminated Williams over the incident. Continue Reading

Oregon Supreme Court Enforces Employment Arbitration Agreement

By John Dudrey and Karen O'Connor on July 19, 2022 Posted in News, Oregon, wage and hour

Oregon employers that require arbitration for employment-related disputes recently received some good news from the Oregon Supreme Court. In Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc., the Court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that his arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it limited the arbitrator’s authority to award him relief. Instead, the Court ruled that the arbitration clause was fully enforceable.

The facts of the case are straightforward. ZoAn Management is a delivery service that hired Gist as a driver and classified him as an independent contractor rather than as an employee. Gist filed a putative class action lawsuit against ZoAn, claiming that he had been misclassified as an independent contractor and thus did not receive the wages he was entitled to under Oregon law as an employee. ZoAn filed a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the Driver Services Agreement (“DSA”) that Gist signed at the outset of his engagement. The DSA contained a clause requiring that “any dispute, claim or controversy” arising from the DSA be resolved through mandatory arbitration. Gist argued that the DSA’s arbitration clause was “unconscionable,” a legal doctrine that allows a court to strike a contract provision if it deems the provision so fundamentally unfair that it should not be enforced. Specifically, Gist pointed to language stating that the arbitrator could not “alter, amend or modify” the terms of the DSA, which Gist argued would prevent the arbitrator from concluding that he was in fact an employee rather than an independent contractor and was therefore entitled to damages. Continue Reading

Heat and Smoke: New Rules for Oregon Employers

By Lou Ferreira and Matt Tellam on July 1, 2022 Posted in employer policies, Oregon, OSHA

Summer in Oregon has officially arrived and, at least in the Portland Metro area, it did so not with a polite knock on the door, but with a string of 90-degree days. As the season continues to roll out, and with the likelihood of more hot days ahead, it’s important to remember that Oregon has new rules for employers related to heat exposure of employees.

HEAT RULES

On May 10, 2022, Oregon OSHA adopted new permanent rules to provide greater protections for employees when temperatures get hot. The rules went into effect on June 15, 2022.

The rules apply when an employee is working, whether indoors or outdoors, and the heat index equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In those situations, the rules provide that employers must provide and implement the following:

Access to shade. There must be one or more “shade areas” that are “immediately and readily available” to employees who are outdoors. The shade area must be open to the air on at least three sides or have mechanical ventilation for cooling. Shade during meal periods must be large enough to accommodate the number of employees having the meal.

Drinking water. There must be a sufficient supply of drinking water “immediately and readily available” to employees who are outdoors at all times (at no cost). The water must be either cool (66-77 degrees Fahrenheit) or cold (35-65 degrees Fahrenheit). There must be enough water to provide each employee with up to 32 ounces per hour. All of the water does not need to be made available at the start of the shift if the employer has procedures to replenish the water throughout the shift.

High-heat practices. If the heat index is greater than or equal to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, employers must:

Have procedures in place to rapidly identify any employee who is suspected of experiencing a heat-related illness. This can include having regular communications with employees who are working alone or having a mandatory buddy system; and
Develop and implement a written heat-illness prevention rest break schedule. The employer may develop its own plan pursuant to the rules, adopt the plan designed by NIOSH, or utilize the simplified schedule designed by Oregon OSHA, which is available on its website.