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Governor Kate Brown signed into law the new Oregon Paid Sick Leave (“OPSL”) law enacted by the Legislature on June 12. The new law becomes effective January 1, 2016. Oregon is the fourth state to enact a state-wide paid sick leave law after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. The text of the OPSL is available here.

The OPSL will look familiar to Oregon employers that have already been dealing with local PSL ordinances enacted in Portland and Eugene in recent years, which OPSL now preempts and replaces. OPSL largely tracks those local leave laws in substance, and generally requires employers to provide up to 40 hours of sick leave per year. Here is a detailed summary of its requirements, including where it differs from the Portland and Eugene ordinances.
Continue Reading Oregon Enacts State-Wide Paid Employee Sick Leave Which (Mostly) Replaces Local Ordinances in Portland and Eugene

As we blogged about earlier, courts in most states just plain don’t like employee noncompete agreements. Particularly when it comes to mid- and low-level employees, courts worry that enforcing a noncompete agreement will hamper innovation, restrict competition, and unfairly burden a former employee’s ability to earn a living. For that reason, a court typically will review an noncompete’s justification, scope, and length with the judicial equivalent of a fine-tooth comb.

Courts have been picking away at the enforceability of employee noncompetes for years, but more recently, legislatures have jumped into the mix with varying levels of aggressiveness. California has long banned noncompetes outright, and several other states either have followed suit (e.g., North Dakota) or are considering whether to pass similar laws (e.g., Massachusetts, Washington). Still others have adopted laws that make it easier for employers to enforce noncompetes (e.g., Georgia), or are considering whether to do so to remedy past judicial reticence in the area (e.g., Wisconsin).Continue Reading Oregon Tightens the Screws on Noncompetes: 18 Months Will Soon Be the Maximum Period of Restriction

As we noted a while ago, Oregon recently joined the growing number of states that prohibit an employer from demanding access to an employee’s personal social media account. An Oregon employer may not require an employee or applicant to disclose her username, password, or “other means of authentication that provides access to a personal social media account.” Neither may an employer require an employee or applicant to friend, follow, or otherwise connect with it via a social media account, or to permit the employer to “shoulder surf” while the employee is logged in. There are exceptions—business-related social media accounts and workplace investigations are notable ones—but the rule is fairly clear: When it comes to employees’ personal social media accounts, it’s probably best for an employer to keep its distance.

Seems simple enough, right? Maybe, but here in Oregon, we like not to be outdone by our neighbors. So, last week, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 185, which adds a few interesting tweaks to the “model” approach that most other states (including Oregon) have followed when adopting social media protections for employees.Continue Reading Oregon Legislature to Employers: Stay Out of Employees’ Personal Social Media Accounts!

1790100On July 3, 2015, the San Francisco Retail Workers Bill of Rights becomes operative. This ordinance creates major changes for many companies doing business in San Francisco.

Employers Affected

The law applies to “formula retail” businesses with (a) 20 or more locations worldwide, and (b) 20 or more employees in San Francisco, as well as their janitorial and security contractors. Pending amendments to the law, if passed, would change from 20 to 40 the number of retail establishments worldwide for a formula retail business to be covered by the law.

A “formula retail” business is any business that maintains two or more of the following features:

  • Standardized array of merchandise
  • Standardized façade
  • Standardized décor and color scheme
  • Uniform apparel
  • Standardized signage
  • Trademark or service mark

Requirements

1.  Advance Notice of Work Schedule

Employers must provide new employees with a good-faith initial estimate of the number of scheduled shifts the employee will receive each month, along with the days and hours the shifts will occur.

Employers must also provide employees with their schedules two weeks in advance. Schedules may be posted in the workplace or provided electronically, so long as employees are given access to the electronic schedules at work. If the posted schedule is changed, the employer must notify the employee of the change by in-person conversation, phone call, email, text message, or other electronic communication.  This requirement doesn’t apply if the employee requested the change.
Continue Reading San Francisco Is About to Begin Enforcing the Retail Workers Bill of Rights – Are You in Compliance?

The folks at KUER ran a report yesterday on Utah’s ground breaking LGBT antidiscrimination law, which went into effect yesterday. Titled the Antidiscrimination and Religious Freedom Act, the law prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity on the same terms as discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin…

Here’s a couple updates related to the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinace.  Alas for Seattle employers, this is no April Fools joke.

Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Ordinance Becomes Law

As we’ve blogged about before, Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance becomes law on April 1, 2015, raising the minimum hourly wage for Seattle’s lowest paid workers. On…

Utah legislators made national headlines last night when they approved a bill providing antidiscrimination protections to LGBT employees coupled with protections for religious expression in the workplace. Titled the Utah Antidiscrimination and Religious Freedom Act (the “Act”), the bill received support from across Utah’s political spectrum, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the ACLU of Utah, and some of Utah’s leading LGBT advocacy groups. Utah Governor Gary Herbert has pledged to sign the bill into law later today.

The bill could serve as a template for other so-called “Red States” also seeking to balance concerns about religious liberty and expression with the need for workplace antidiscrimination protections for LGBT employees. Our objective in this article is to describe how the new law will impact Utah employers, their obligations under the Act, who is protected and who is exempt, and how the law’s religious belief protections for employees are meant to apply.
Continue Reading Utah Legislators Make History, Pass LGBT Antidiscrimination/Religious Freedom Bill

5352901The City of Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance is set to take effect April 1, 2015.  When it does, Seattle will have the highest minimum wage in the nation, outpacing larger metropolises like San Francisco and New York City. Initially, Seattle workers will see a large increase above the State of Washington’s current $9.47 an hour minimum wage, up to either $10 or $11 an hour, depending on the size of the employer. Thereafter, the Seattle minimum wage will rise under a phased-in approach so that employee wages increase incrementally over the next three to seven years until the $15 per hour minimum is met by all employers. Once the $15 minimum is attained, wages will adjust with inflation. Below is a brief guide to the legislation and how it affects Seattle-area employers.

Draft Regulations Just Issued

On February 19, 2015, Seattle released long-awaited draft regulations interpreting the Ordinance, which will be discussed further below. Seattle is taking comments on the draft regulations through Friday, March 6, 2015. The text of the Ordinance and the draft regulations, the phased-in minimum wage schedules, and other information about the Ordinance can be found here: http://www.seattle.gov/civilrights/labor-standards/minimum-wage.Continue Reading Uncharted Territory: Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Ordinance

sledgehammerCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown recently signed AB 1897 thereby creating new liability for businesses that engage in labor contracting.  Current California law prohibits employers from entering into labor or services contracts with a construction, farm labor, garment, janitorial, security guard, or warehouse contractor, if the employer knows or should know that the agreement does not…