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Oregon employers are hiring, and the state may be entering an 鈥渁pplicants鈥� job market.鈥澛營f your company is planning on adding team members in 2016, here are the updates you need to know:

Ban the box laws are becoming increasingly common 鈥� 15 states and more than 100 cities have passed one.聽Oregon鈥檚 ban the box law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2016.聽The Oregon law makes it illegal for most employers to ask about criminal history on employment applications, increasing the likelihood that job applicants with criminal records will be interviewed for an open position. The law does not prevent employers from inquiring about criminal history altogether, however. Employers can ask about criminal history at an initial interview, and can condition an offer of employment upon an applicant鈥檚 successful passage of a criminal background check.聽Since the law does not define exactly what constitutes an initial interview, employers unsure would be wise to delay asking about criminal history until they are positive one has occurred.聽A quick phone screening, for example, may not qualify.聽Employers should also check their employment applications to make sure they do not ask about criminal history unless federal, state or local law requires a criminal background check for the position.

A new Oregon law also protects social media accounts of job applicants and employees.聽When it comes to personal social media accounts, the law makes it illegal for an employer to ask for login information like username and password, to require that the applicant or employee 鈥渇riend鈥� an employer鈥檚 account, or to shoulder-surf while the applicant or employee accesses his or her social media accounts.聽However, the law is limited to purely personal social media accounts, which means it must be unrelated to the employer鈥檚 business purpose and not paid for by the employer in order to qualify for protection.聽So, if one or more of your employees manages your company鈥檚 social media accounts, don鈥檛 worry 鈥� you are still allowed to access and control those accounts.聽Where gray areas arise, and where employers should tread lightly, is when an employee uses a personal account to post business-related information.聽Cautious employers will not assume that because an employee posts about the business, the employer can now access everything in that employee鈥檚 otherwise personal social media account. Oregon鈥檚 social media privacy law goes into effect Jan. 1.

Oregon鈥檚 paycheck fairness act also goes into effect Jan. 1.聽The law is intended to bring more transparency to employee wages, with the aim of reducing the gender pay gap.聽At least one study has showed that in Oregon, women earn 79 cents for every $1 earned by men.聽The law protects employees who inquire about wages or disclose information about their wages, and also protects employees who make an unfair wage charge based on disclosed wages.聽The law provides an exception for employees who have access to the wage information of other employees as part of their job, and who disclose that wage information to employees not authorized to receive it.聽So, employees with access to wage information are not permitted to broadcast everyone鈥檚 pay. However, employees with this kind of access are protected by the law for disclosing wage information in response to a charge or complaint, or as part of an investigation, proceeding, hearing or other legal action.

Paid sick leave will go into effect statewide in 2016.聽Starting Jan. 1, Oregon employers with 10 or more employees (or six or more employees in Portland) will be required to offer at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.聽Oregon is just one of four states to have passed a paid sick leave law.聽Fortunately for Oregon employers, the law pre-empts local ordinances (including Portland鈥檚) so there will be just one sick leave standard to apply in 2016.聽If you have an existing PTO (paid time off) policy that meets all the requirements of the paid sick leave law, then you will already be in compliance when the law takes effect.聽In many instances, an existing PTO policy can satisfy Oregon鈥檚 paid sick leave law after some modifications.

Employers hiring in 2016 also need to ask what type of workers they are adding: employees or independent contractors.聽The U.S. Department of Labor, responsible for enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act, recently issued guidance stating that it considers many workers labeled by employers as 鈥渋ndependent contractors鈥� to be misclassified 鈥渆mployees.鈥� They should likewise receive all benefits to which employees would be entitled. 鈥淲hile there are a number of factors to consider in worker classification, the most important is whether the workers are economically dependent on the employer, or whether they are truly in business for themselves.聽Expect the DOL to take a very active role in investigating worker classification in 2016. Misclassification can have serious consequences for employers, including sanctions for back pay, back taxes and other damages.

Finally, employers adding members to their teams need to be aware of new proposed DOL regulations that will impact exempt (salaried) workers who do not receive overtime pay. Previously, workers who performed the duties described in the executive, administrative, professional and other exemptions to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act had to earn at least $23,660 per year to retain the exemption.聽Under the proposed regulations, the exempt duties remain, but the minimum annual salary would climb to $50,440 per year.聽That means an exempt employee performing the necessary duties but earning less than the proposed minimum salary would now be eligible for overtime pay. The regulations are not yet finalized, so there is no effective date.聽But employers should consider allocating hours differently or budgeting for additional overtime pay or salary in 2016.

Damien Munsinger is an attorney at Barran Liebman LLP. He represents employers in employment law matters.聽Contact him at 503-276-2112 or [email protected].