2017 Archives

Alerts

• New Timeframes for Responding to Public Records Requests

  December 29, 2017During the 2017 legislative session, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 481 which amends the current public records process and timelines.  Prior law required completion of the records request “as soon as practicable without unre...
  By Benjamin P. O'Glasser & Erica Shaffer
  

• NLRB Returns Joint Employer Test to Pre-Browning-Ferris Standard

  December 19, 2017On December 14, 2017, the National Labor Relations Board overruled its 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries. The Board held in Browning-Ferris Industries that two entities can be deemed a joint employer even if one does not have direct cont...
  By Mitchell J. Cogen & Lindsey M. Tran
  

• NLRB Sets New Standard Governing Workplace Policies

  December 19, 2017On December 14, 2017, in a 3-2 decision involving The Boeing Company, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) overruled Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia, which set the Board’s previous standard governing whether facially neutral...
  By J. Chris Duckworth
  

• NLRB Overrules Specialty Healthcare, Restores Traditional Community of Interest Test When Considering Micro Units

  December 19, 2017In a decision issued late Friday afternoon (PCC Structurals, Case No. 19-RC-202188), the National Labor Relations Board overruled a 2011 decision regarding how the Board will determine whether a group of employees is an appropriate unit for purpos...
  By Daniel L. Rowan
  

• U.S. House of Representatives Passes Bill Limiting Definition of Joint Employer

  November 9, 2017New bill would roll back Obama-era expansion of joint employment standard On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, the United States House of Representatives passed legislation to limit the definition of “joint employer.”  The bill, entit...
  By J. Chris Duckworth
  

• Second Look: Supreme Court to Revisit Constitutionality of Mandatory Public Sector Union Fees

  October 3, 2017 On September 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will once again consider the issue of whether unions can force non-member public employees to pay union “agency fees” or “fair share fees.”  The Court prev...
  By Lindsey M. Tran
  

• Employers can no longer seek salary history information beginning October 6

  October 2, 2017Bullard Law has previously written about the Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017 which was passed by the 2017 Legislature and signed into law by the Governor on June 1st. While most of the provisions of the new law do not go into effect until 2019 or eve...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• DOL Salary Threshold Increase Appears Dead – For Now

  September 12, 2017As has been reported in earlier Bullard alerts, in 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finalized regulations increasing the salary threshold for exempt employees from $23,660 annually to $47,476. However, prior to the effective date of the re...
  By J. Kent Pearson, Jr.
  

• EEO-1 Pay Data Report – Reporting of Pay Data a No-Go

  August 30, 2017Bullard Law has previously reported on the EEOC’s 2016 changes to the reporting requirements for collection of demographic information on race, gender, and ethnicity, by job category, to also include pay data and hours worked for employees g...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• Governor Signs Oregon’s “Predictive Scheduling” Law

  August 8, 2017Today, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 828, which provides that large employers in the retail, hospitality, and food services industries must pay additional compensation to employees for certain scheduling changes.  The law also pe...
  By Benjamin P. O'Glasser
  

• OSHA Injury Tracking Application Now Up and Running

  August 1, 2017As Bullard has previously reported, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated new rules effective January 1, 2017, which required additional reporting of injuries and illnesses by employers with 250 or more employees or ...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• Changes to Overtime Rule Appear Inevitable

  July 31, 2017Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published an official request for information (RFI), seeking input on alternatives to the 2016 overtime rule proposed by the former administration. The 2016 overtime rule increased the salary levels...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• New I-9 Form Takes Effect September 18, 2017

  July 18, 2017On July 17, 2017, U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a revised Form I-9, the form used to verify employee identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Employers may download the new form here:  Form I-9...
  By J. Kent Pearson, Jr.
  

• Overtime Rule Salary Threshold is Dead But Issue is Not

  July 6, 2017Last year, the Department of Labor (DOL) under the Obama administration promulgated a rule that increased the salary threshold a worker must make to qualify as exempt from overtime from $455/week to $913/week ($47,476 per year). Businesses and sta...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• Second Minimum Wage Increase for Oregon Employees Went Into Effect 1st of July

  July 5, 2017In March 2016, Oregon enacted a geographically-tiered minimum wage hike. (Read former Bullard Alert here). The first increase went into effect last year. The second increase went into effect on July 1, 2017...
  By Megan J. Crowhurst
  

• Supreme Court Confirms Pension and Benefit Plans Maintained by Church Affiliates May Be Exempt from ERISA

  June 16, 2017In an 8-0 decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the exemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) for church-sponsored employee benefit plans extends to plans maintained by entities that are...
  By Kara Backus & Thomas I. Kramer
  

• ​Update: What’s Happening to 2016 Rules and Regulations with the New Administration?

  June 12, 2017Before the change in administration, employers were preparing for a number of new rules and requirements put in place by various federal agencies. What happened to them?
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• Oregon Equal Pay Act Signed Into Law

  June 5, 2017As an update, as anticipated, last week the Governor signed House Bill 2005, the Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• ​Legislature Passes Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017

  May 25, 2017The first significant employment bill of the 2017 Legislative session has been passed by both chambers of the Oregon Legislature and is headed to the Governor who has publicly announced that she will sign the bill into law. House Bill 2005 (2017),...
  By Liani J. Reeves
  

• Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements – Maybe Better Than We Thought

  May 4, 2017In December 2016, Congress passed and President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act, which created qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangements (QSEHRAs). This Alert reviews how QSEHRAs may be used, in light of different ...
  By Kara Backus & Thomas I. Kramer
  

• Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is First to Extend Title VII's Prohibition Against Sex Discrimination to Include Sexual Orientation

  April 5, 2017Here in the Pacific Northwest, it is easy to miss that there has been a long brewing debate on whether discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation is unlawful. Oregon has specifically included sexual orientation ...
  By Randi J. Ensley
  

• Court Rejects BOLI's Position In Manufacturing Overtime Dispute

  March 16, 2017With certain exceptions, including supervisors and employees working in non-production areas, ORS § 652.020 provides that Oregon employees working in mills, factories, and manufacturing establishments are entitled to daily overtime at time an...
  By J. Kent Pearson, Jr.
  

• Oregon Legislature Considers “Predictive Scheduling” Law

  February 24, 2017Employers in Oregon could be required to pay employees for up to four hours of unworked time if an employee’s shift is cancelled or shortened.  Additionally, some large employers may be required to engage in an “interactive proces...
  By Benjamin P. O'Glasser
  

• New Form I-9 Required After 01/21/17

  January 13, 2017In November, 2016, U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revised Form I-9, the form used to verify employee identity and authorization to work in the United States.
  By J. Kent Pearson, Jr.