Ed Reeves

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Ed Reeves is a retired partner of the firm. Ed’s practice focused on counseling employers, educating management in all areas of labor and employment law and advising private colleges and universities on all aspects of education law. He also offered to serve as a neutral mediator and arbitrator.

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Time to Revise Your Job Applications: Oregon Prohibits Salary History Inquiries in Effort to Address Systemic Wage Inequality

“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. But the reality of the pay gap is more complicated. Employers make salary decisions based on a number of … Continue Reading

Landmark Seventh Circuit Decision Interprets Title VII Protections To Prohibit Sexual Orientation Discrimination

By Ryan Kunkel, Brenda Baumgart, Howard Bye-Torre and Ed Reeves on April 7, 2017 Posted in Cases, News, Supreme Court, Title VII, Uncategorized, Updates

“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 who alleged she was fired because she is lesbian. On Tuesday, the en banc Seventh … Continue Reading

Whistleblower Retaliation Protection Expands in Oregon

By Ryan Kunkel and Ed Reeves on April 4, 2017 Posted in Cases, Oregon, Uncategorized

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 Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that retaliating against an employee for making an internal report of potentially unlawful activity—not a report to an external … Continue Reading

Breaking: Court Rules Against Double Overtime for Oregon Manufacturing Employers

By John Dudrey and Ed Reeves on March 10, 2017 Posted in BOLI, Cases, Oregon, wage and hour

Oregon manufacturing employers have been following the ongoing turmoil surrounding the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries’ (“BOLI”) recent interpretation of Oregon’s requirement that manufacturing employees receive overtime when they work more than 10 hours in a day. In the latest turn, a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that, contrary to BOLI’s advice, … Continue Reading

The City of Portland Issues Rules for “Ban the Box”

By Caroline Sundbaum and Ed Reeves on October 6, 2016 Posted in News, Oregon, Title VII, Updates

We previously blogged about Portland, Oregon’s restrictive “ban the box” ordinance. The City of Portland recently issued administrative rules for its ordinance. The administrative rules are available here. The key provisions are: Excepted Employers As explained in our prior blog, you are excepted from the ordinance’s timing restriction (but not its other requirements) if the … Continue Reading

Portland, Oregon’s More Restrictive “Ban the Box” Ordinance

By Caroline Sundbaum and Ed Reeves on July 7, 2016 Posted in Oregon

Portland, Oregon’s new “ban the box” ordinance went into effect on July 1, 2016. We blogged about Oregon’s statewide “ban the box” law here. Portland’s new ordinance is more restrictive and prohibits covered employers from conducting criminal background checks until after a conditional job offer is made. Detailed information about the new ordinance is available … Continue Reading

DOL Imposes New Exempt Salary Requirement on Employers

By Ryan Kunkel, Karen O'Connor, Keelin Curran and Ed Reeves on May 18, 2016 Posted in Labor

We knew it was coming, and – while business groups fought hard against it – the much-anticipated Department of Labor Final Rule regarding “white collar” exemptions from minimum wage and overtime requirements is now a reality. The rule, announced by the White House on Twitter last evening, imposes a major increase in the salary threshold … Continue Reading

EEOC Promotes Gender Equality by Imposing Another Burden on Employers

By Ed Reeves and Ryan Kunkel on February 2, 2016 Posted in EEOC

Employers with 100 or more employees take note: a major new reporting requirement may be coming your way next year. On January 29, 2016, President Obama announced that beginning in September 2017, employers with 100 or more employees must report the earnings and hours worked for all of their employees. That’s right. Employers must disclose … Continue Reading

Affirmative Action Update: Challenging the Pay Gap

By Ed Reeves and Caroline Sundbaum on October 14, 2015 Posted in Gov't Agencies

According to government studies, last year women overall made approximately 77 cents to the dollar in compensation compared to men. Black women made 64 cents to the dollar. Hispanic women made even less—55 cents to the dollar. Most pay disparity isn’t due to base salaries; it’s due to other forms of compensation such as bonuses, … Continue Reading

EEOC Rules That Title VII Prohibits Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

By Ed Reeves on July 23, 2015 Posted in EEOC, Title VII, Updates

In a 3-2 decision published on Thursday, July 16, 2015, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) concluded that intentional discrimination against an employee based on their sexual orientation is sex discrimination- an act strictly prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is premised … Continue Reading

Marriage Equality Is Nationwide

By Ed Reeves on July 22, 2015 Posted in Supreme Court

In Obergefell v. Hodges, the United States Supreme Court held that “[t]he right to marry is a fundamental inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty.” This historic … Continue Reading

Oregon’s New “Ban the Box” Law Prohibits Criminal History Questions on Employment Applications

By Ed Reeves on July 20, 2015 Posted in Oregon, Practical Tips, Title VII, Updates

It’s been an active legislative session in Oregon this year regarding laws affecting the state’s employers. Hot on the heels of enacting laws relating to paid sick leave, noncompete agreements, and employee privacy on social media, Governor Kate Brown also recently signed into law House Bill 3025. That law will make it illegal for most employers to … Continue Reading