Ryan Gibson

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Ryan Gibson brings to his litigation and employment law practice the insights he gained while working in Washington, D.C. on international public policy and nuclear non-proliferation and arms control, both at the U.S. Department of State, where he held a Secret security clearance, and at the non-profit Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A senior associate in Stoel Rives’ Labor & Employment Group, Ryan represents employers in litigation in state and federal courts and in administrative agency proceedings. He has experience involving all aspects of employment-related issues including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, family leave, wage and hour, non-competition agreements, and traditional labor law.

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OSHA Promotes Workplace Safety by . . . Limiting Drug and Alcohol Testing?

By Ryan Kunkel, Karen O'Connor and Ryan Gibson on Posted in OSHA
Employers that promote workplace safety by ensuring workers are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol after they suffer a workplace injury will soon face greater scrutiny from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”).  A new OSHA rule that goes into effect August 10, 2016 casts serious doubt on whether employers can lawfully … Continue Reading

SHRM Quotes Adam Belzberg and Wes Miliband on the Effects of Drought on California’s Agricultural Labor Market

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in California, Labor, News
Stoel Rives labor and employment attorney Adam Belzberg and water resources attorney Wes Miliband were quoted in a Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) article titled “California Drought Has Wide-Ranging Effects in Business Community.” The article examines the effects of California’s long-lasting drought on the state’s job market, specifically on the agricultural and food manufacturing sectors. … Continue Reading

Oregon Enacts State-Wide Paid Employee Sick Leave Which (Mostly) Replaces Local Ordinances in Portland and Eugene

By Ryan Gibson and Laura Rosenbaum on Posted in Oregon, Uncategorized, Updates
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. … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch: It’s All About the Motive

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Cases, EEOC, Supreme Court, Title VII
Stoel Rives Summer Associate Dexter Pearce co-authored this post. In a case Justice Antonin Scalia described as “really easy,” the Supreme Court held that an employer can be liable for failing to accommodate a religious practice even if the employer lacks actual knowledge of a need for an accommodation. Writing for the 8-to-1 majority (Justice … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Finds Post-Shift Security Checks Noncompensable in Integrity Staffing v. Busk, But Employers Shouldn’t Get Too Excited

By Tim O'Connell and Ryan Gibson on Posted in Cases, FLSA
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision earlier this week in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, held that time spent by warehouse employees at Amazon.com warehouses waiting to go through security checks at the end of their shifts was “postliminary” activity not compensable under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and its … Continue Reading

What Does Alaska’s and Oregon’s Legalization of Marijuana Change for Employers? Answer: Probably Not Much.

By Renea Saade and Ryan Gibson on Posted in ADA, Alaska, Oregon
In this week’s mid-term election on November 4, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia became the latest jurisdictions to pass referendums decriminalizing the recreational possession and use of small amounts of marijuana.  They join Colorado and Washington, which took this step in 2012.  Oregon’s law becomes effective in July 2015; Alaska’s probably in February 2015. … Continue Reading

Video Interview: Discussing California’s Paid Sick Leave with LXBN TV

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in California, Updates
My colleague Bryan Hawkins recently discussed California’s new paid sick leave law with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN. You can catch the interview on the clip below. As Bryan noted in his original post, California is the second state in the nation (after Connecticut) to enact a state-wide law requiring most employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, marking the latest … Continue Reading

World of Employment Blog Launches New Responsive Design and Enhanced Reader Features

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Employment Law Blogs, Updates
Dear World of Employment Blog readers. We’ve been blogging since 2008, and while our commitment to keep you informed on major employment law developments hasn’t changed, technology certainly has. Six years ago, it was still a desktop- and RSS-dominated world. Today, more and more of you are reading our posts on tablets and smartphones. As … Continue Reading

President Obama Signs Executive Order Banning LGBT Job Discrimination by Federal Contractors and Government

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Labor, News
What the Executive Order Does: This Executive Order amends two earlier executive orders: it amends Executive Order 11246, which prohibits discrimination by federal contractors to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing prohibitions of race, color, religion, national origin, age and sex discrimination. In addition, Executive Order 11478, which, as amended, bars discrimination … Continue Reading

Top 25 FAQs Employers May Have About Implementing the New Portland Paid Sick Leave Ordinance in 2014

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Oregon
In March 2013, the Portland City Council passed the new Portland Paid Sick Leave Ordinance requiring all but the smallest employers to provide paid sick leave (“PSL”) for employees who work within city limits. On November 1, the city released final regulations interpreting the Ordinance and fleshing out some of the requirements in more detail. Also, the … Continue Reading

Employers Should Review Benefits Plans And Other Policies Affecting Employees In Same-Sex Marriages As New IRS Guidance Implementing U.S. Supreme Court’s Windsor Decision Becomes Effective Today, September 16, 2013

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Gov't Agencies
Here’s something that should be at the top of your to do list on this Monday morning:  make sure your benefits and other employee policies are in compliance with new guidance from the IRS that becomes effective today relating to federal tax treatment of same-sex marriages under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor.  In Windsor, the Supreme … Continue Reading

Chasm Continues To Widen, For Now, Between NLRB and Federal Courts On Enforceability Of Class Action Waivers In Employment Agreements

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Cases, Labor
Just last week, in the case GameStop Corp., a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge applied recent Board precedent and ignored contrary cases from federal courts to find an employer’s arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it waived the right of employees to bring class or collective actions.  While the decision has yet to be … Continue Reading

Maryland Federal District Court’s Dismissal of EEOC v. Freeman Provides Guidance for Employers on Background Check Rules

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in EEOC
As we’ve blogged about before, the EEOC has become more aggressive over the past few years in scrutinizing employer use of criminal background and credit checks.  While federal anti-discrimination laws do not expressly prohibit employers from performing background checks or similar screening methods on employees or applicants, their use can be unlawful where the practice … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court’s Decisions on DOMA Extend FMLA Definition of “Spouse” To Same-Sex Partners In States Recognizing Gay Marriage

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in FMLA
As almost everyone knows, the U.S. Supreme Court  issued two blockbuster decisions on gay marriage, U.S. v. Windsor, which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act’s ("DOMA") definition of marriage for the purposes of federal law, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, which struck down California’s "Proposition 8" prohibiting same-sex marriage in that state.  Those decisions will likely have significant … Continue Reading

Oregon Court of Appeals Continues Debate About Status of Wrongful Discharge Claims In Oregon in Kemp v. Masterbrand Cabinets, Inc.

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Oregon
Last week the Oregon Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Kemp v. Masterbrand Cabinets, Inc., holding that the plaintiff’s common law wrongful discharge claim was not precluded by the statutory remedies then available under Oregon or federal anti-discrimination laws, and that claim could properly be decided by a jury.  The case is another wrinkle … Continue Reading

Part 1 of 2: The U.S. Supreme Court Issues Two Employer-Friendly Opinions On Title VII In Vance v. Ball State Univ. and Univ. of Tex. Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Title VII
On one day recently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued employer-friendly opinions in two separate and long-awaited cases interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (known simply as “Title VII”), the primary federal employment discrimination statute.  While both cases change little about what employers should be doing day-to-day to prevent unlawful discrimination in … Continue Reading

New IRS Guidance Expected Over Delay of Affordable Care Act Employer Pay-or-Play Penalties

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in News
As described by my colleague Howard Bye-Torre in his client advisory published earlier today, Mark Mazur, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the Treasury Department announced in a Tuesday blog post that the effective date for imposing employer pay-or-play penalties (also known “shared responsibility payments”) will be delayed by the IRS until 2015. The IRS is expected to issue official … Continue Reading

Oregon Legislature Passes HB 2654 Prohibiting Employers From Requiring Access To Employee Social Media Accounts

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Oregon
Coming as no big surprise since other states, like Utah and California, have been passing similar laws, the President of the Oregon Senate recently signed the final version of HB 2654, which will prohibit Oregon employers from compelling employees or applicants to provide access to personal social media accounts, like FaceBook or Twitter.  The law … Continue Reading

US Supreme Court Gives Green Light For Employers To Use Offers Of Judgment To Moot FLSA Collective Actions

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in FLSA, Supreme Court
Today the US Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Genesis Healthcare v. Symczk. In the case, the Court held that employers could effectively end collective action lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by agreeing to pay the named plaintiffs in those lawsuits whatever they claim they are owed. The Court held that because the … Continue Reading

11th Circuit Disagrees With NLRB And Finds Nurses Are “Supervisors” In Lakeland Health Care Decision

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Labor
Several weeks ago the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit weighed in on the ongoing debate in labor law over the definition of who is a “supervisor,” and therefore not eligible to join a union, under the federal National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The opinion, Lakeland Health Care Associates , is but the latest … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Swats Case Back To Arbitration

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Supreme Court
In a terse per curium opinion issued today in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard, the U.S. Supreme Court sent a very clear reminder to lower courts, and especially state courts, that once arbitration agreements are found enforceable, arbitrators, and not judges, are to decide everything else in the case involving interpretation of an arbitration agreement.  In … Continue Reading

December 31, 2012 Deadline Looms Under Tax Code for Fixing Severance Agreements with Releases

By Ryan Gibson on Posted in Practical Tips
  Employers have until the end of the year to take advantage of relief from penalties under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code for agreements that require employees to sign releases before severance benefits are paid. Section 409A was enacted in 2004 to regulate deferred compensation.  Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") regulations made clear that it … Continue Reading
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