Amy Joseph Pedersen

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Amy Joseph Pedersen is a partner in the Labor & Employment section of the Litigation group who focuses exclusively on employment litigation and counseling, primarily on the employer’s side of a dispute but, on occasion, also representing executives and executive groups. Amy has substantial trial experience in state and federal courts, as well as in administrative proceedings and arbitration, in all areas of employment law including discrimination and wage class actions. She also has significant experience in noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreement negotiation, drafting, and enforcement litigation; and workplace investigations.

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Updated Face Covering Guidance for Oregon Businesses

By Laura Rosenbaum and Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in coronavirus, COVID-19, Oregon
Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued an order this week making her earlier Mask, Face Shield, and Face Covering Guidance applicable statewide effective July 1, 2020.  Although the media has generally described the guidance as applying to all businesses, it is only required of the following covered businesses: Grocery stores Fitness-related organizations Pharmacies Public transit agencies … Continue Reading

Staying Connected with Your Employees: Temporary Hours Reduction or Work Share Program?

By Todd Hanchett, Dexter Pearce, Amy Joseph Pedersen and Karen O'Connor on Posted in coronavirus, COVID-19, Department of Labor, employer policies, Practical Tips, States
Employers facing changes in their business or broader economic downturns must find ways to respond and weather the storm.  Typically, this means cutting expenses, while maintaining their ability to operate.  For many (if not most) businesses, payroll is the single largest expense item.  And when business slows, employees are left with excess capacity and are … Continue Reading

Navigating ADA Issues in the Time of COVID-19: Four Situations Employers Should Be Prepared For

By Caroline Sundbaum and Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in ADA, coronavirus, COVID-19
We have been counseling employers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and have encountered several common scenarios.  Many of the most frequently asked questions are addressed in our Employer FAQs.  This post provides additional information on the interaction between various pandemic-related issues and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). An employee known to be suffering from a mental … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Puts a Small Crack in the Glass Door

By Bryan Hawkins, Amy Joseph Pedersen and Tim O'Connell on Posted in Articles, California, Practical Tips, States
An employer who unfairly and inaccurately is slammed by a former employee (or maybe even a current employee!) on a job-posting or employer-rating website will often look to its lawyer for help.  Surely the law protects against outrageous false statements that harm the employer’s ability to recruit new talent?  Maybe not—and if there is, it … Continue Reading

HR Urban Legends

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Practical Tips
Walt Disney had himself cryogenically frozen.  Alligators are alive and well in the NYC sewer system.  You’ll die if you eat a whole bag of Pop Rocks and polish it off with a can of Coke.  2016 was the weirdest primary election season ever . . . oh, wait.  That one’s true. Human resources has … Continue Reading

It’s a Trap!  Students Receiving Credit Need Not Be Paid? 

By Amy Joseph Pedersen and Ryan Kunkel on Posted in FLSA
As colleges and universities begin new terms, not all students are returning to the classroom.  Some students are headed into the “real world,” to work alongside corporate titans, small-business owners, or moms and pops in their shops, while receiving academic credit—and not wages—for their efforts.  These students are applying the lessons learned in their prior … Continue Reading

It’s Coming: Overtime Pay for More Workers

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in FLSA, Labor, Updates
Coming to a store or restaurant near you soon!  Supervisors will get overtime! “Too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve.” —President Obama on overtime pay http://t.co/Y4yThJ1K2g — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 30, 2015 To be exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements, currently a worker must perform certain duties … Continue Reading

Oregon Tightens the Screws on Noncompetes: 18 Months Will Soon Be the Maximum Period of Restriction

By Ed Piper and Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Oregon
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 … Continue Reading

Oregon Legislature to Employers: Stay Out of Employees’ Personal Social Media Accounts!

By Ed Piper and Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Articles, News, Oregon, Updates
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 … Continue Reading

EEOC’s Tough Stance on Employee Separation Agreements

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in ADA, ADEA, Cases, EEOC, Practical Tips, Title VII
Employers like separation agreements.  Separation agreements, of course, are contracts that employees sign when their employment is terminated that allows them to be paid severance and in exchange they usually give up the right to sue their employer.  Separation agreements provide finality to employment terminations by offering employers protection from claims and potential claims.  The … Continue Reading

“Freaky Fast” Oppression? Jimmy John’s Should Reconsider its Approach to Blanket Noncompete Agreements

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Practical Tips
Most competent employment lawyers with experience pursuing and/or rebuffing enforcement of noncompetition agreements know that enforcement against low level workers is highly unlikely.  If recent news reports are true, Jimmy John’s apparently never got that memo. According to reports in The New York Times, The Oregonian and the Huffington Post, the restaurant franchise is requiring … Continue Reading

Oregon Supreme Court Takes Another Big Bite Out of the At-Will Employment Doctrine in Cocchiara v. Lithia Motors

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Oregon
Most people understand that employment in Oregon, as in most states, is at will, meaning that either the employer or the employee can end the relationship at any time for any reason or no reason at all, absent a contractual, statutory, or constitutional requirement to the contrary.  Of course, that last clause provides that there … Continue Reading

EEOC’s Final Regulations on the ADAAA: News You Will Certainly Use

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in ADA, EEOC, News, Practical Tips
At long last the EEOC has issued its final regulations for the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act.  In so doing, the EEOC has taken Congress’ words contained in the Act and declared (repeatedly) that the definition of “disability” is to be read very broadly and that employers should instead focus on whether discrimination has occurred or an accommodation … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Holds Title VII Can Cover Third Party Retaliation Claims

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in Cases, News, Supreme Court, Title VII
The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion today in Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP., 562 U.S. ___ (2011), that confirms the expansive scope of persons protected by Title VII. The Court held that it is unlawful for an employer to intentionally harm one employee in order to retaliate against another employee who engaged in … Continue Reading

GINA Compliance?

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in EEOC, Practical Tips, Statutes
As Stoel Rives World of Employment has previously reported, Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants based on their genetic information and regulates employers’ acquisition and use of genetic information.    GINA applies to private employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, labor … Continue Reading

New Website for Disability Information

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in ADA, Labor, News, Statutes
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy today launched a new website that may be of use to employers seeking information on how to accommodate a disabled worker.  At www.disability.gov an employer can research the applicable law and regulations, get ideas for appropriate reasonable accommodations, and locate additional resources.  For example, clicking here will … Continue Reading

Use Workshare Program to Cut Costs and Keep Workers

By Amy Joseph Pedersen on Posted in California, Idaho, News, Oregon, States, Utah, Washington
Are you looking for ways to hang on to staff, yet reduce costs?  Those goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive if you choose to participate in your state’s workshare program.  A workshare program allows your employees to collect some unemployment benefits but continue working part time.  Here’s an article from the Center for Law and … Continue Reading
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