Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous and its impact in the employment arena is notable. Using AI tools in employment can bring efficiency, particularly in the hiring process, but the use of these time-saving...more
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere and is being used in virtually all industries. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management last year found that almost 25% of employers use AI to make employment-related...more
9/25/2023
/ Age Discrimination ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Consent Decrees ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
For years, many employers have used the practice of time-clock rounding. This is a practice of rounding time entries by employees to the nearest five-minute, six-minute, or 15-minute interval. This practice is lawful under...more
Governor Brown recently signed into law three key employment-related bills, affecting the Workplace Fairness Act, mandatory overtime, and the Equal Pay Act.
Workplace Fairness Act Amendments The version signed into law of...more
We recently reported on a number of employment-related bills working their way through the Oregon Legislature. As an update to that report, here are the five employment-related bills that appear likely to head to Governor...more
The Oregon Legislature has begun its 2022 Regular Session and we want to make you aware of a number of interesting bills which could impact the employment arena. It is too early to know which of these, if any, will become...more
2/10/2022
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Discrimination ,
Fairness Standard ,
Human Trafficking ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Over-Time ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sexual Assault ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In their most recent session, the Oregon Legislature passed, and Gov. Kate Brown signed into law, Senate Bill 169 (SB 169) – a bill which continues to erode the protections of noncompetition agreements for employers...more
Cannabis businesses are highly regulated, with complex rules applicable to each level of the supply chain; from checking ID of customers to ensuring proper entry of plant weights in the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system,...more
Five significant employment-related bills have been signed into law so far this legislative session. Some of these bills were a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the bills will have a substantial impact on how...more
Well, we just issued an update yesterday telling you that despite the CDC and Governor Brown saying no masks are required in public places for vaccinated people, Oregon OSHA still requires you to have them at work. Not so...more
By now, most of you are aware of the guidance issued by the CDC, which has rescinded the mask requirement for fully vaccinated individuals in public settings, both outdoors and indoors, with limited exceptions. You are also...more
For this second installment in our legislative update series we have a status report on the employment-related bills discussed in our previous alert, as well as a survey of the bills that have since been introduced related to...more
4/13/2021
/ Age Discrimination ,
Burden of Proof ,
Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Independent Contractors ,
Marijuana ,
Minimum Wage ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Tax Credits ,
Vaccinations
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which became law on March 11, 2021, extends the incentive to employers to provide paid time away from work for COVID-related reasons. This article examines this law...more
The Oregon Legislature has now begun to meet for the 2021 Regular Session. We want to make you aware of a number of interesting bills which could impact the employment arena. It is too early to know which of these, if any,...more
In less than a year, COVID-19 changed nearly everything across the globe. And one of its major impacts was the definition of workplace. In March, the coronavirus pandemic sent U.S. employers scrambling to keep their...more
We recently published an article about the Temporary Rule Oregon OSHA issued for workplaces in the State of Oregon. That article covered the provisions of the Rule applicable to all workplaces in the State of Oregon. The Rule...more
11/19/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Oregon ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Risk Assessment ,
Sanitation ,
Social Distancing ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Workplace Safety
On November 6, 2020, Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OR-OSHA) adopted the Temporary Oregon OSHA COVID-19 Rule (the Rule) aimed at addressing the effects of the pandemic on the workplace. Unless otherwise...more
Although it may be the understatement of the century, a lot has happened in Oregon in 2020. An employer could be forgiven for overlooking that SB 726 – the Workplace Fairness Act (WFA) – goes into effect on October 1, 2020,...more
During this time when we are seeing protests related to Black Lives Matter and COVID-19, and as political campaigns start to heat up, it can be expected that employers will start to hear more discussion of a political nature...more
Thursday night March 26, 2020, the Department of Labor issued its second guidance on administering the emergency paid sick leave (“EPSL”) and emergency family medical leave (“EFML”) of the Families First Coronavirus Response...more
On March 28, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its third round of Guidance ahead of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s (FFCRA) April 1, 2020 effective date. The new Guidance provides additional...more
On March 14, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the first version of HR 6201 (the “Families First Act”), an emergency relief bill with paid FMLA and paid sick leave benefits for employees experiencing employment...more
3/22/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
EFMLA ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
New Legislation ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits
We are endeavoring to keep you up-to-date on developments from COVID-19 impacting the workplace. In response to the pandemic, the U.S. House has passed a bill that would provide for paid leave and would expand protection...more
The topic of independent contractors has been at the forefront of late, with both the Department of Labor and the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries taking a keen interest in reviewing independent contractor relationships...more
The landscape of laws regulating the employment relationship in Oregon seems to be constantly changing. Another big change occurred with the enactment of the Oregon Workplace Fairness Act. This legislation was signed into law...more