{"id":188095,"date":"2025-09-28T18:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/188095\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:11:09","slug":"new-rules-strengthen-worker-protections-in-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/188095\/","title":{"rendered":"New rules strengthen worker protections in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oregon workers<\/a> enjoy some of the strongest labor protection laws in the nation. And under a new set of laws passed earlier this year by the Legislature, the list of rules employers must follow continues to grow<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Some took effect Friday, including a law prohibiting prospective employers from asking candidates\u2019 age or date of graduation and one expanding protections for workers awaiting appeals for paid leave benefits. The reforms come alongside other policy changes and court rulings that have strengthened the state\u2019s sick leave protections and expanded the scope of wage theft investigations.<\/p>\n

It represented a bright spot for workers in a year when Oregon\u2019s annual minimum wage increased only 35 cents, the smallest rise in the past decade.<\/p>\n

To help workers and employers navigate the new regulations, the Capital Chronicle compiled a list of some recent reforms, new laws and court decisions. <\/p>\n

Labor and Industries Bureau expansion<\/p>\n

The agency responsible for enforcing many worker protections, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, has become increasingly central in Oregon labor law. During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers added $18.7 million to the agency\u2019s 2025-27 budget. <\/p>\n

That increase marks a nearly 31% increase from the previous budget. The agency says the change will allow it to clear a backlog of cases that forced it to stop investigating wage theft claims for workers making over $52,710 annually or $25.34 per hour back in October 2024. Agency leaders plan to seek additional state funding for long-term agency stability in the short 2026 legislative session, according to the bureau\u2019s annual State of the Worker report<\/a> released earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing forced to institute the wage threshold, only being able to take claims from Oregonians in the most challenging financial situations, was the most difficult decision I\u2019ve had to make in office,\u201d Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson wrote. \u201cRemoving the threshold by the end of 2025 because the Legislature invested in the Bureau\u2019s capacity and recognized that all Oregonians deserve to have their rights enforced will be a significant step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

BOLI and employer relations<\/p>\n

One law that took effect Friday will directly impact the bureau\u2019s work. House Bill 2248<\/a> seeks to mediate conversations between employers and the labor bureau. The law creates a formal division of employer assistance inside the bureau to provide opinions to employers seeking to comply with state employment laws. The measure specifies that employers relying upon such communications in good faith cannot be punished with penalties by the agency.<\/p>\n

Age discrimination<\/p>\n

House Bill 3187<\/a>, which took effect Friday, prohibits employers from inquiring about a job candidate\u2019s age, birthday and time of attendance or graduation from an educational institution. The law applies until an employer completes an interview or makes a job offer. It exempts requests for age-related information if an employer needs to \u201caffirm the applicant meets bona fide occupational qualifications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paid leave protections<\/p>\n

Another piece of legislation involves Paid Leave Oregon, which came under the purview of the labor bureau through this year\u2019s passage of Senate Bill 69<\/a>. The law guarantees individuals appealing their Paid Leave Oregon benefits can file a complaint to the bureau while they are in the process of finding out if they will receive benefits. The law allows the use of sick time for any purpose that qualifies for Paid Leave Oregon, which would include family or medical leave. <\/p>\n

Blood donations and sick time<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 1108<\/a>, which goes into effect in January, allows workers to use sick time off to participate in an accredited voluntary blood donation program, such as one run by the American Association of Blood Banks or American Red Cross. <\/p>\n

Payroll, salary changes<\/p>\n

Two new laws will also apply specifically to public employers in the state by January. Senate Bill 731<\/a> will require public employers that offer pay bumps for bilingual or multilingual employees to also do the same for American Sign Language speakers. <\/p>\n

And employers can now take advantage of Senate Bill 968<\/a> to deduct overpaid wages within the past year as long as they give notice to employees at least 10 calendar days in advance. Employers must give written statements itemizing the overpayments and explaining the deductions with the option of recuperating the balance owed from an employee who is terminated. The law limits deductions to 5% of an overall paycheck unless employees request otherwise. <\/p>\n

Court cases involving injuries, sickness<\/p>\n

Two major wins for workers involved cases in which plaintiffs were dealing with serious conditions that impacted their health. In a Thursday decision<\/a> from the Oregon Supreme Court, the justices upheld the Oregon Court of Appeals overruling of a state Workers\u2019 Compensation Board decision. The agency had denied an independent examination to a man working in a meat snack company who sustained back injuries. <\/p>\n

A doctor selected by his employer\u2019s insurance company found no link between the injury and his job, instead suggesting it was a pre-existing condition. His own doctor disagreed. The Oregon Supreme Court found that the compensation board erroneously denied the worker an independent exam. <\/p>\n

Another case involved the prospect of retaliation and right to seek sick leave. Workers in the state get at least one hour of protected sick time for every 30 hours of work for up to 40 hours per year. Sick leave in Oregon is not required to come with compensation unless an employer has 10 or more employees or, in Portland, six or more employees. <\/p>\n

Accessing those benefits could become easier after a Sept. 10 ruling<\/a> in the Court of Appeals favored a worker in a Lane County dental office who was fired after being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. <\/p>\n

Richard Myers, her attorney, told the Capital Chronicle that the case emphasizes how employers must not retaliate against individuals seeking sick leave even if they end up not qualifying for it. Disability accommodation requests for leave should also be met with understanding especially when an employee is dealing with a serious medical condition, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a long fight for my client and she\u2019s very pleased that the Court of Appeals found in her favor,\u201d Myers wrote in an email. \u201cThe decision from the court is not only a win for my client but also a win for Oregon workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle<\/p>\n

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom<\/a>, the nation\u2019s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oregon workers enjoy some of the strongest labor protection laws in the nation. And under a new set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[110055,110056,28,134],"class_list":["post-188095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","tag-bonneville-lock-dam","tag-bonneville-lock-and-dam","tag-business","tag-jobs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}