This has been a year like no other – and for Oregon’s construction industry, the fires and pandemic have brought new challenges and considerations.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is committed to helping employers of all sizes navigate this new landscape so that they can manage risk and avoid potential violations before they happen. On Nov. 5-6, our 36th annual Employment Law Conference will feature legal experts and specialists in an all-virtual format to help businesses of all sizes stay in compliance. Visit to register.

Until then, here are a few of the top civil rights and wage and hour questions we’re fielding from construction employers:

Sick time

Most construction businesses are familiar with the Oregon sick time basics. Employees earn one hour of sick time for every 30 worked unless a business decides to front-load workers 40 hours at the beginning of the year.

But the pandemic brings new considerations. In normal times, employers do not have to let employees use sick time for child care. However, during a pandemic (or other public health emergency), employees can use sick time for school, child care or business closures due to the emergency. Also, the wildfires, recently designated as public health emergencies, meet this standard.

Employers facing layoffs should keep departing employees’ sick time on the books. If rehires are made within 180 days, employees should have access to their previous sick time bank.

Retaliation

Employers have a duty to protect employees from unlawful retaliation when they bring good faith complaints regarding safety conditions, wages or a host of other working conditions. Even when the employee is wrong or mistaken on the merits, he or she has a right to bring concerns to the employer or an enforcement agency.

Unlawful retaliation can take many forms. Termination is the most obvious and extreme, but any reduction of hours or other adverse employment action can trigger a complaint. Employers also must protect employees from peer-to-peer retaliation; it’s not just top-down actions that can put businesses at risk.

Face coverings, physical distancing

Construction workers should maintain physical distancing and wear masks, face shields and face coverings in all indoor places and outdoors when distancing isn’t possible. Employers should make reasonable accommodations for employees with a religious objection or a disability, unless to do so represents an undue hardship. Learn more at: .

Travel time

When an employee travels from home to a work site, the time spent commuting is generally considered unpaid “portal-to-portal” travel. Special, one-day assignments 30 miles or more from a fixed worksite have different rules, however. In that case – and only for single-day jobs, not projects spread over a longer period of time – employers must compensate employees for the travel time.

Employers should consider travel from one job site to another paid time. When an employee starts the day working in one location, then travels to a second work site, wage and hour law requires the time be paid.

Temperature checks

Employers have a duty to keep their workforce safe and ensure that they meet all applicable health and safety mandates. Businesses should also overcommunicate steps they’re taking and provide an outlet to employees to provide feedback and suggestions for what’s working and what’s not. After all, when an employee comes to his or her employer with a concern – not our agency or Oregon OSHA – he or she is doing it a favor.

Employers also may develop a system for daily temperature checks, either at a job site or via self-reporting by employees at their residences. Employers that decide to institute temperature checks on site should have a plan to keep the results confidential and secure. Remember, health records must be kept apart from personnel files per Oregon law.

Since the early days of the pandemic, those of us in the Technical Assistance for Employers program have worked to help employers understand their obligations in a rapidly changing world. There’s a strict firewall between our compliance experts and the two major enforcement divisions so that businesses aren’t penalized for trying to do the right thing. We’ve fielded thousands of calls and emails from employers working to understand complexities ranging from the FFCRA to new OFLA rules that affect their operations. Any construction business looking for guidance can contact us for free, confidentially, via email at bolita@boli.state.or.us.

Charlie Burr is a training and development specialist for BOLI’s Technical Assistance for Employers program. He helps employers navigate complex civil rights and wage and hour issues. Contact him at 971-673-0797 or charlie.burr@state.or.us.

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91��Ƶ guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.

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As the year ahead ushers in new requirements for Oregon’s construction industry, the Bureau of Labor and Industries can help employers of all sizes adapt. Some significant new laws set to take effect this month include:

Pregnancy accommodations

Starting Jan. 1, employers with six or more employees must make reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees. These accommodations could include modification of equipment, modification of break periods by length or frequency, modification of schedules or assignments, and more. If an employer provides light duty for a disabled worker, but not a similarly situated pregnant employee, the denial of the request will bring legal and compliance risk. Employers must also provide notice of these changes to new employees, existing employees (within 180 days of the law taking effect), and anytime an employee informs an employer of a pregnancy. Download a template at .

Expression of breast milk

Employers of all sizes – not only those with 25 or more employees – must now provide employees with reasonable time to express breast milk, at least until their child reaches 18 months of age. Employers may no longer require an employee to add this time to an existing break. Time spent expressing breast milk remains unpaid, but only employers with 10 or fewer employers may claim an undue hardship defense.

Workplace fairness

The Workplace Fairness Act represents the first significant update to Oregon’s sexual harassment laws in the #MeToo era, but the changes extend well beyond harassment. The new law extends the statute of limitations for most employment-based civil rights complaints from one year to five and prevents employers from requiring nondisclosure or non-disparagement agreements. Keeping records is always important – and even more so now.

In addition to the statute of limitations extension already in place, employers must update their harassment policies by October 2020 to include, among other things, provision of multiple avenues of reporting harassment or discrimination. BOLI will finalize its model policy no later than July 1, so stay tuned for a sample compliance template. (Employers can sign up for compliance alerts by visiting )

Once employers have a revised policy in place, they must provide it to employees at the time of hire, in the workplace and again, in written form, when an employee steps forward with a complaint.

Wage and hour updates

One of the most significant wage and hour changes in 2020 will come not from state law, but a U.S. Department of Labor rule on salary-exempt employees. Starting this month, a salary-exempt employee must earn at least $684 per week to be exempt from overtime pay eligibility; that is up from $455 a week (or $500 in Portland). Exempt employees will also still need to meet (such as “executive,” “administrative” or “professional”) for the overtime and working condition exemption to withstand scrutiny.

Oregon law limits the amount of wages subject to garnishment generally at 25 percent of an employee’s disposable earnings (net after taxes), but now the employee must also be left with at least $254 per week. Employers with noncompetition agreements with employees must now provide a written copy within 30 days after the end of the employment relationship. Starting this month, HB 3198 will expand the Construction Contractors Board’s ability to revoke or suspend contractor licenses for failure to pay a BOLI Final Order on unpaid wages.

Minimum wage will not increase until July, but like clockwork, third-party vendors will likely attempt to sell compliance posters at bloated, inflated prices. Employers can instead or buy low-cost composite posters from us for a fraction of the cost.

In the year ahead, BOLI will closely track new legislation and work hard to help employers stay compliant when new laws take effect. We will also work across the state to help employers prepare for significant changes on the horizon, such as the paid family leave law set to take effect in 2023. Until then, business officials looking for information about their obligations can call BOLI’s free, confidential employer hotline at 971-673-0824.

Charlie Burr is a training and development specialist for BOLI’s Technical Assistance for Employers program. He helps employers navigate complex civil rights and wage and hour issues. Contact him at 971-673-0797 or charlie.burr@state.or.us.

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July has arrived, and for many of us that means summer barbecues, cold beverages and time spent with family and friends. For more than 150,000 employees, July 1 also means a boost in wages as the minimum wage increases around the state.

Here are the top five things Oregon employers should know about the coming increase:

1. Oregon’s minimum wage is increasing now, and not in January

Employers should be ready to have minimum wage workers see an increase to their paychecks starting July 1. Any work performed in July should reflect the new higher rate immediately. Don’t wait!

2. Not all wage increases will be the same

Oregon has three minimum wage zones. The highest zone, in the Portland-metro area, will see an increase to $12.50 an hour. (Employers can see whether they’re inside the metro zone by accessing Metro’s ). Employers in the standard zone (Columbia, Clatsop, Tillamook, Yamhill, Marion, Polk, Lincoln, Benton, Linn, Lane, Deschutes, Hood River, Wasco, Jackson and Josephine counties) will see an increase in the minimum wage to $11.25 an hour. For all other counties in the rural zone, minimum wage will increase to $11 an hour.

3. Don’t fall for minimum wage poster scams

Employers can ignore third-party poster vendors attempting to scare them into buying posters at inflated prices. The required minimum wage poster is available in and for free on BOLI‘s . Also, low-cost composite posters are available.

4. There are options for employees working across multiple zones

When an employee works more than 50 percent of the time in a fixed location, the business should use the rate for that area during the pay period. But when an employee works across multiple minimum wage zones, the employer can either pay multiple rates based on where the employee performed the work or pay the highest rate across the board if the paperwork is cumbersome. Employers with questions can also call the employer hotline at 971-673-0824 to talk to a person (not a machine) and learn more.

5. The minimum wage increase does not affect other employees’ wages

An increase in the minimum wage does not create a requirement for businesses to give other workers a raise. For example, if an employee in the metro area is already making $12.50 an hour, the July minimum wage increase does not trigger another increase under law. The minimum wage directly impacts only Oregon’s lowest wage workers.

Oregon’s minimum wage law will affect thousands of employers and more than 150,000 low-wage earners around the state. For more information about BOLI’s efforts to help Oregon employers navigate the state’s minimum wage, please visit .

Charlie Burr is a training and development specialist for BOLI’s Technical Assistance for Employers program. He helps businesses navigate complex civil rights and wage and hour issues. Contact him at 971-673-0797 or charlie.burr@state.or.us.

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