2023 Archives

Alerts

• National Labor Relations Board Discards Half a Century of Precedent and Expands the Use of Bargaining Orders in Cemex

  August 29, 2023The Board established broad new standards for foregoing an election and issuing a bargaining order requiring an employer to bargain with a union even if it hasn’t won an election. In Cemex, the National Labor Relations Board (“the B...
  By Nik Soukonnikov
  

• OSHA Reminds Employers about Heat Illness Prevention Requirements

  July 6, 2023Summer in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We can’t wait for it to quit raining, and then we all complain about the heat!  With the mercury rising, OSHA just put out an FAQ (linked here) to remind employers about their heat illness p...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Universities’ Race-Conscious Affirmative Action Admissions Policies

  July 6, 2023The Supreme Court struck down race-conscious affirmative action admissions policies used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina as contrary to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964....
  By Nik Soukonnikov
  

• U. S. Supreme Court Rules State Public Accommodations Laws Do Not Control Over First Amendment Speech Rights

  July 5, 2023 The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, held that a business owner’s Free Speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevail over a state public accommodation law that prohib...
  By Nik Soukonnikov & Heather J. Van Meter
  

• Something New Under the Sun – Supreme Court Upends Religious Accommodation Analysis, Increases Burdens on Employers

  June 29, 2023 In today’s Groff v. DeJoy decision, the U.S. Supreme Court explained that employers will bear a greater burden to accommodate religious employees than they have previously. Employers must now accommodate an employee’s relig...
  By Nik Soukonnikov
  

• Paid Leave Oregon Updates: New Employee Guidebook

  June 23, 2023Paid Leave Oregon has posted an Employee Guidebook to walk people through the types of leave they can take, how their benefits will be calculated, what documentation they will have to provide, and what they can expect after they apply. Notably, em...
  

• Noncompete Agreements on the Chopping Block (Again)

  June 13, 2023 Following on the heels of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) January 5, 2023 proposed rule to bar nearly all noncompete agreements (see our May 8 b-Alert), National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Co...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Senate Bill Seeks to Quiet Conflicts between OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon

  June 7, 2023 Employers who have been diligently attempting to update their company’s leave policies to address the impending availability of benefits under Paid Leave Oregon have encountered many unanswered compliance and administrative questions. ...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Washington’s Long-Term Care Tax Deductions Start July 1, 2023

  May 24, 2023 In a bad case of déjà vu, employers are reminded to start withholding a 0.58% premium tax on their Washington employees effective July 1, 2023. Brief flashback – Back in 2019, Governor Inslee signed the Long-Term ...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• New Employment Poster Requirements

  May 16, 2023The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released a new Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) poster to reflect the recent changes made under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act. This law expa...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Worklaw Network Comment on Proposed Non-Compete Rule Changes

  May 8, 2023On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a new rule which, if adopted, would ban U.S. employers from using non-compete agreements. In its notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPR”), the FTC sought p...
  By Dennis E. Westlind
  

• NLRB Limits Employers' Authority to Discipline During Workplace Activism and Union-Related Activities

  May 1, 2023On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision in the case of Lion Elastomers that restores legal protection for workers who engage in profane speech or conduct in the context of workplace activism and union-related ac...
  By Dennis E. Westlind
  

• Oregon’s Minimum Wage Rates Increasing up to 5.6% on July 1, 2023

  April 17, 2023 The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has announced new minimum wage rates throughout Oregon that will take effect on July 1, 2023. [read announcement here]. The standard minimum wage rate will increase to $14.20 per hour, while the Portland...
  By Heather J. Van Meter
  

• Conflict Between OFLA and Paid Family Leave Creates Heartburn for Employers

  April 11, 2023Oregon employers (and their attorney advisors!) are experiencing various degrees of heartburn as they struggle to revise leave policies, employee handbooks, and sometimes collectively bargained agreements, in order to account for Oregon’s ne...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Legislature Considering Exclusion of Hiring / Retention Bonuses from Equal Pay Act

  March 23, 2023 The Oregon Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from discriminating between employees in the payment of wages or other compensation for work of a comparable character unless the wage differential is based on certain bona fide factors such as senior...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Supreme Court Rules that Employee Was Entitled to Overtime Pay Despite Six-Figure Income

  February 23, 2023A new Supreme Court ruling yesterday serves as a useful reminder to employers that they must pay employees on a “salary basis” in order to avoid overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), even for highly compensat...
  By Ed Choi
  

• Paid Leave Oregon – Volume III: Tax Status of Contributions and Benefit Payments

  January 24, 2023As outlined in our previous alerts, most businesses with Oregon employees began paying into Oregon’s new family and medical leave insurance (“FMLI”) program as of January 1, 2023. While several “in the weeds” administ...
  By Christine M. Zinter
  

• Employment Law Trends to Watch in 2023

  January 9, 2023 With election dust settled, the new year brings new employment law trends for employers to watch carefully. The following list and short description of compliance topics are intended as a helpful reminder to be sure employers are starting 2023 o...
  By Heather J. Van Meter