As mass timber pushes into more project types, contractors and advocates are pursuing its inclusion in designs for one of the few construction sectors showing growth: health care.

Mass timber has long been used in office buildings and residential structures as supporters credit it for appealing aesthetics, faster tilt-up times, and competitive costs and performance. Health care is a tougher sector to crack, with strict code requirements for hospitals and unique considerations related to patient health.

Yet those hurdles have done little to dissuade mass-timber backers, who see a growing health-care sector that comprises one-sixth of the $30 trillion U.S. economy while commercial real estate has pulled back dramatically.

“We’re going to see more (mass-timber) projects that are health care, and we’re going to see larger portions of the projects that are mass timber,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication at Skanska, one of the large contractors working with the material.

Health care was a central topic at this week’s International Mass Timber Conference in Portland. Lewis covered health care as an emerging market for mass timber, while University of Oregon researcher Mark Fretz discussed “Mass Timber in Health Care and Infection Control.”

It makes sense for contractors and other industry insiders to pursue health care projects, said Iain Macdonald, director of the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University‘s colleges of forestry and engineering, and the UO College of Design.

“Commercial is kind of a stagnant construction sector, and life sciences is one that’s growing,” he said.

While clients continue to rely on traditional concrete-and-steel construction for key hospital functions, the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and similar products in health care facilities is growing.

On the Oregon Coast, ZGF Architects‘ design for the Columbia Memorial Hospital expansion in Astoria uses mass timber for the entryway’s roof and other structural elements. The 183,000-square-foot facility will also include safe refuge areas in the event of a tsunami and acute care patient rooms on upper floors. The expanded hospital is slated to open in 2027.

The foyer of the new St. Charles Cancer Center in Redmond, a 53,000-square-foot facility that will open later this month, is made from mass timber.

The University of Oregon’s $71 million Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a 54,000-square-foot building under construction in Portland and designed by ZGF, will feature mass timber extensively, as does a $47 million building designed by Hacker for Mosaic Community Health in Bend.

In Lakewood, Washington, a behavioral health facility designed by HOK topped out in March.

“The mass-timber design serves a number of goals,” Loren Supp, HOK’s design principal in Seattle, stated in a news release. “It highlights the natural beauty of western Washington and its evergreen forests. It reinforces the state’s commitment to environmentally friendly design, and it creates a warm and calming environment that benefits well-being.”

Advocates point to the well-studied psychological benefits of inhabiting timber buildings. UO researchers last year published a study finding CLT had fewer viable bacteria than a plastic sample. The researchers also found that volatile organic compounds in CLT decreased over time.

Industry and UO researchers are studying the possibilities for expanding use of mass timber in hospitals.

“You’re not going to have it in the (operating rooms), but there are distinct advantages to having it in patient rooms, waiting areas and that sort of thing,” Macdonald said.

Industry officials are also studying mass timber’s potential for other uses, including warehouses, data centers and military bases.

Portland has long been the epicenter of mass-timber construction in the United States. Portland is home to notable projects such as the Mississippi Building, an all-wood office structure designed by Waechter Architecture; the 12-story Julia West House, designed by Holst Architecture; and Carbon12, an eight-story mixed-use building designed by Kaiser + Path.

Extensive use of CLT in the new Portland International Airport terminal marked a new chapter for mass timber in major public projects. And even some never-built concepts, including Framework and the Spar, led to important research for building tall wood structures.

In health care, Skanska’s Lewis said clients don’t need to be persuaded — they’re eager to build with mass timber.

“A lot of the clients, especially in the Pacific Northwest, harken back to our affinity for wood,” Lewis said.

Clients point to sustainability and valuing the experience of being inside the building.

“It seems like the ones that want to do timber are really invested in trying to create a space that they feel is above what they’ve seen in the market,” Lewis said.

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The pipeline of health care projects is beginning to slow as hospitals experience dramatically reduced revenues, industry officials said Tuesday.

Hospitals have seen significant drops in revenue-producing elective procedures, leading many health care groups to put building projects on hold, an architect and construction manager who work in health care said.

“Several of our clients have had to just put capital projects on hold because they’re faced with extreme downturns in revenue,” said Larry Parrett, a principal at NBBJ‘s Portland office.

Health care groups also face higher costs related to retrofitting existing facilities and providing personal protective equipment, he added. “We have seen quite a few our projects put on hold, particularly if they’re in the design phase,” Parrett said.

The comments came during a Builder Breakfast event held virtually Tuesday by the Daily Journal of Commerce. The discussion panel also included Trent Rehfeldt, health care market executive for Mortenson’s Portland office, and Doug Nelson, PeaceHealth’s system vice president for planning and development.

Some health care projects are still moving forward. Parrett said NBBJ continues to respond to requests for proposals for new patient towers, ambulatory care centers and medical office buildings. Urban “micro-clinics” are increasingly popular, as are in-office health care clinics at major corporate campuses such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Mortenson Construction is pricing subcontractors for a wellness center at Reed’s Crossing, the South Hillsboro mega-development. Mortenson plans to break ground in December, with delivery scheduled 15 months later, in early 2022, Rehfeldt said.

“This project, because of our delivery system, never paused, never stopped, so we’re excited to deliver the Reed’s Crossing project for Hillsboro,” Rehfeldt said.

The wellness center will have two full stories and 108,000 square feet. The project combines a full medical clinic with a fitness facility, including an aquatic center, locker rooms, a childcare center and other amenities.

Mortenson is serving as developer and design-builder with Ankrom Moisan Architecture.

Broadly, the pandemic has led to a number of design changes. PeaceHealth, like other health care groups, is reworking patient rooms, Nelson said.

“We want to transition to single-patient rooms,” he said. “PeaceHealth has a lot of shared patient rooms. We understand that’s not where health care is headed at all.”

Anne Talcott, health care industry group leader at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, served as moderator for Tuesday’s event.

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As the coronavirus pandemic slows development and construction in Portland, health care projects are moving to the front of the permitting line.

In recent days, the Bureau of Development Services has issued permits for tents at Legacy‘s Emanuel and Good Samaritan hospitals, Providence Portland Medical Center and Providence Gateway. Oregon Health & Science University received a permit to modify an existing auditorium building for patient intake.

“Our Facility Permits Program is working around the clock and working closely with hospitals and health facilities to make sure we can get their permits in the pipeline and approved as quickly as possible,” BDS spokesman Ken Ray said.

In some cases, health care building permits are being issued the same day they come in.

“According to our Facilities Department, BDS has approved all of our permits,” Brian Terrett, a spokesman for Legacy Health, stated in an email. “They also indicated that minor projects that were reviewed by the Facility Permit Program at BDS are working well, and Legacy has benefited from that process.”

BDS’ assigns staffers to work with large institutions, including hospitals, which have ongoing permitting needs for frequent renovations, building maintenance and updates such as fire alarm installations.

While health care projects are advancing, many other developments are not. BDS remains . Permitting is limited by nearly all BDS staffers working remotely using a computer network with limited capacity. As a result, BDS has limited new permitting intakes to projects designated as critical “Tier 1” or “Tier 2.”

Tier 1 includes hospitals and clinics fighting COVID-19, and ongoing infrastructure projects such as the Portland International Airport terminal upgrades and city water plant construction.

Tier 2 includes projects that have building permits in hand and are already under construction.

Meanwhile, other projects are waiting. New commercial construction permits are not being accepted. BDS has exceptions for affordable housing – those are included in tiers 3 and 4.

As other work grinds to a halt, designers and contractors that have bet heavily on health care stand to benefit. Among them is NBBJ, a Seattle-based architecture firm that opened a Portland office last fall.

NBBJ is the designer of two projects for OHSU – the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic now under construction and a 14-story hospital tower not yet under way. (OHSU did not respond to requests for comment). NBBJ is also designing Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s renovation and expansion in North Portland, and a project for St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.

“We’re grateful to have that level of investment in health care,” said Carl Tully, an NBBJ principal who works in Seattle and Portland.

Health care projects are proceeding at a normal pace, Tully said.

“We have projects in all phases of progress right now,” he said. “The encouraging thing is we have not had any slowdown, whether it’s being able to have inspections on site, having permits approved, or having permits going through the intake process pretty flawlessly.”

Other firms are looking to help. ZGF Architects‘ health care practice in Portland scrambled to design a modular unit to provide relief for hospitals burdened by a surge of COVID-19 patients. ZGF was approached by TCM Corp., Western Partitions Inc. and Cherry City Electric to provide programming design.

The modular units would be prefabricated regionally and delivered by trucks to hospitals in need of overflow space. They would be placed on a concrete pad, parking lot or other paved area.

“The concept here is these modules would be primarily to off-load lower-acuity patients out of hospitals,” said Richard Shiga, a ZGF principal who is spearheading the design work.

Regulatory agencies have been helpful, Shiga said.

“One of the most interesting things about this process has been the conversations with the state and the city,” he said. “It’s been amazing. Both the state and city have gone out of their way to make it as quick and easy and efficient as possible.”

The units’ size is based on what can be put on a truck and shipped quickly, Shiga said. The companies are in the process of fabricating a prototype. Their goal is to be able to fabricate, ship and set up the modular units within 72 hours.

Shiga said the units are flexible enough to accommodate different purposes if the need arises. Ideally, they may not be needed at all, as Oregon hospitals have so far had adequate capacity to handle coronavirus patients.

“This is the kind of project where if this never needs to happen,” Shiga said, “we’re all for it.”

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The nine-story, 157,000 square foot Gladys McCoy Health Department Headquarters is currently being built on a half block parcel at Northwest Sixth and Hoyt Street. The project is adjacent to Union Station and the Bud Clark Commons apartment building run by the county’s public housing authority Home Forward.

Designed by ZGF Architects, the new Gladys McCoy building takes its name from the county’s current headquarters on Southwest Stark Street. Built in 1923, the current headquarters is too small and county officials have been looking into replacing the building for well over a decade.

Now, general contractor J.E. Dunn and an army of subcontractors are entering the final phases of construction. The building topped out last December, and those involved in the $94 million project now expect it to be substantially complete by the end of this year.

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In just a few years, “retail” health clinics have become close to ubiquitous around Portland. These small acute care facilities, open late hours and on weekends, are popping up in commercial spaces around the metro area – strip malls, discount centers and grocery stores.

They represent a new way of interfacing with the growing health care sector, and, as such, new opportunities for builders. One, Bremik Construction, has now built retail health spaces for three different providers, with plans to keep going.

And with the stigma of retail clinics wearing off and the Affordable Care Act increasing access to medical care, the era of retail clinics doesn’t seem to have crested just yet.

Retail-spin

The first retail clinic in the U.S. opened in 2000, according to a 2009 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. And they’ve been the subject of controversy ever since.

Today, retail clinics are opposed by a number of doctors’ groups, including the American Academy of Family Physicians and American Academy of Pediatrics, who worry about “fragmentation” of patient care. They say the clinics are a cop-out, rather than a solution to actual problems of limited access. The American Medical Association has opposed them for nearly a decade, on the basis that insurance companies shouldn’t steer patients away from a primary care provider, or toward facilities staffed by nonphysicians.

Convenience is one main reason for the surge in retail health. Most doctors’ offices are open traditional business hours and only on weekdays. One common knock on health care in America has been that many patients use emergency rooms as a first stop for all manner of conditions. Another perceived benefit is cost. Visits to retail clinics were found to cost around $110, while the doctor’s office and urgent care centers cost around $160.

Retail clinics are said to offer convenience and low cost, though professional medical groups counter the facilities are often incentivized to over-prescribe medication and provide lower-quality care.

Researchers with the Health Care Financing & Organization have found that the proximity of a clinic increases the chances that a patient will visit. And said to be more likely to visit are young people, women, people without a chronic condition and high-income people. For these reasons, researchers expect retail clinic utilization to continue to increase.

Zoom+Care = growing

Industry observers say the market is rapidly expanding – Providence Express Care, Zoom+, GoHealth and Kaiser Permanente are still developing their plans, and each model is a bit different. And there are several smaller competitors like Doctors Express.

Providence’s focus is on same-day, no-wait neighborhood clinics intended to handle low-acuity conditions – coughs, colds, sinus issues, stitches, sprains, strains – that don’t require a trip to the emergency room.

“I think what makes Providence unique is that we have a very deep continuum of care – a deep bench, in other words,” said David W. Ray, Providence’s Oregon director of retail operations. “We’ve got these neighborhood clinics and the 45 primary clinics and a number of specialists in the Portland-metro region and in the hospital system. So wherever you enter into our system, we’ll both take care of you and follow your care, and to get you better faster.”

With one in development in Bethany, Providence will have 14 stand-alone clinics in Portland by the end of 2016. The Seattle area is home to 15.

Providence is mission-based, and accepts all patients, regardless of insurance.

Zoom+’s health clinics are similar to the others, but the fast-growing local company’s business model is much more unique. It offers a holistic health insurance plan, which patients can use at many Zoom+ storefronts in the Portland area – Zoom+Smile (dental), Zoom+Performance (fitness) and Zoom+Care (health), with other variants in the works.

It’s targeting people who are younger, and thus generally healthier, and hiring specialists to develop a health plan.

“The jury’s still on whether they can get the members to cover the risk involved in the concept,” Ray said. “They are making a lot of money.”

Provider preference

Bremik has now built retail clinics for three owners – Providence, Kaiser and Zoom+. The latest one, for Providence, is in the Enso building in the Pearl District. The contractor has built stand-alone clinics and “embedded” ones inside larger stores, like Walgreens.

“They’re each unique; Zoom, Providence and Kaiser each have their own needs,” said the company’s health care project team superintendent, Paul Miller. “They’re different and similar in a lot of different ways. Each one of those companies have their own project team and they work together on their own design hand in hand with the architect.”

The outskirts of Portland are home to more of these embedded clinics. In inner Portland, they’re more focused on “neighborhood” care.

The layouts are fairly simple: usually two exam rooms, a reception area and bathrooms. Providence has used JRJ Architects, Kaiser has used ZGF Architects and Zoom+ has used Hacker. The projects are more or less like standard tenant improvements. The timing is quick: projects usually take less than a couple of months, depending on the quality of the building.

Bremik has constructed eight Providence Express Care clinics, after entering the retail health market last summer, Miller said. Kaiser, meanwhile, is developing a project in the Pearl.

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Cedar Sinai Park broke ground last week on the Harold Schnitzer Health and Rehabilitation Care Center, a $33 million construction project in Portland.

Designed by LRS Architects with R&H Construction as general contractor, the project will include the renovation of the Robison Jewish Health Center to transform it into a 44-bed post-acute rehabilitation center. In addition, two new buildings will include four homes with 12 beds each, for a total of 48 beds.

The work on the Southwest Boundary Street campus will be done in phases, with new construction coming first, said Kraig O’Connor, project manager for R&H.

“We are adding two new buildings, a three-story and a single-story, and that will be the first phase,” he said.

Cedar Sinai Parkprovides residential and community-based care to elders and adults with special needs. Current services included independent and assisted living at the Rose Schnitzer Manor, nursing home care at Robison Jewish Health Center, daily respite care through Adult Day Services, affordable housing for the elderly and people with disabilities at four facilities, in-home care and affordable housing for developmentally disabled adults.

But the goal of the new buildings is to get away from an institutional feel, O’Connor said.

“We are trying to make it homey with higher-end finishes, fantastic lighting and upgraded floor and window coverings,” he said.

That “homey” feel is the result of Cedar Sinai following the guidelines of , a long-term care model that’s gaining national attention. Green House homes go beyond simply providing medical care to the elderly, but offer “an environment and support system that enables each person to regain their individuality and to live in a real home,” according to the Green House Project website.

That means large bedrooms, communal kitchens and common areas that all residents to live more socially and yet individually than in a typical home for the elderly, said David Fuks, executive director of Cedar Sinai Park.

“We want to be responsive to people in the way they want to receive care and we are very committed to person-centered care,” he said. “The Green House model will allow us to change the culture not only throughout our organization, but (it) can be exemplary to others in the state as they seek to have 21st-century model care.”

Fuks said Cedar Sinai Park has been saving for the project for years, but got a big boost with a $5 million gift from Arlene and the late Harold Schnitzer through the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation. Other corporate interests contributed another $3 million. Fuks also is working with Cain Brothers, an investment bankingfirm that focuses exclusively on the medical services industry, to possibly obtain for both bridge and long-term financing.

“Our fundraising goal for the total project is $19.35 million and we’ve already raised over $18 million for the entire project,” Fuks said.

Fuks added that he is working with a large foundation on the East Coast that may make up the difference.

After the new buildings are complete, the 53,000-square-foot Robison building will be taken down to its studs, said O’Connor.

“Once those are complete, we will move personnel and residents so we can renovate the existing building.”

Construction of the entire project will take about two years, O’Connor said, with work to begin in about a month.

Michael Roberts is leading the team for LRS Architects. O’Connor said R&H is carrying contracts for design and construction of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. American Heating will handle HVAC work, plumbing will be by Tapani Plumbing Inc., electrical work will be by EC Company and Crown Fire Systems will handle fire suppression systems.

Landscaping and other contracts have not been awarded yet, O’Connor said.

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SUBMITTED BY ANDERSEN CONSTRUCTION

The goal for Andersen Construction Co. during the St. Vincent Medical Center Mechanical – or “M” – Floor upgrade was to replace the original mechanical and HVAC systems on the fourth floor of the 10-story, 296,000-square-foot patient tower. The project included the removal of more than 27,000 square feet of concrete and replacing it with new waterproof flooring, and upgrading the entire mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems – all while keeping the hospital operational and creating minimal disruption for the staff and patients in the 523-bed facility.

Removing concrete is noisy business, no matter how carefully it can be done. So Andersen coordinated a schedule with hospital staff to include slots of quiet time between 30-minute work periods. All of the workers on the project and those in the hospital were made aware of the work and quiet times to allow staff and physicians to talk with patients without the din of deconstruction. Once installed, the new equipment would be quieter than the old and further buffeted by new flooring.

The potential for mechanical systems to fail means possible leakage, so old concrete was removed and new flooring installed. A special coating was applied that would reduce sound and vibration as well as provide watertight integrity should spillage occur. As the waterproof flooring membrane installation sets, it gives off a temporary odor. The odor is nontoxic, but Andersen didn’t want to take any chances that the smell might have a negative impact on patients.

The company built a mock-up for laying the concrete and membrane in an off-site warehouse. For this test situation, workers constructed containment, a ceiling and ducted venting to push air through a charcoal filtration system that was tested for airborne particulates with a gas chromatograph. Once the process was determined safe and effective, it was replicated in the hospital in sections over the entire mechanical room to finish the flooring.

Crafting a perfect lift
Innovative thinking and collaboration turned out to be the keys to success in other parts of the project as well.

“Getting the HVAC equipment in was a major ordeal, but teamwork made it happen without a hitch,” said Chuck Blomquist, Andersen’s project manager.
An air-handling system weighing over 25 tons measured more than three times the size of the access port located over 40 feet above ground on the side of the building. The whole unit was disassembled into smaller sections that would fit through the opening, but moving them into the mechanical systems floor required a tightly coordinated effort.
“We had a crane party,” Blomquist said. “We brought in a 500-ton crane and assembled it on a Friday night, moved the unit in pieces through the access louver on Saturday and Sunday, then broke down the crane Sunday night.”

Workers then moved the pieces in place on steel rollers and completed the assembly. The planning, carefully timed and coordinated teamwork set the massive unit in place with no disruption to operations or normal vehicle access to the hospital.  The temporary air handling units were left in place to facilitate future renovation.
Hospital staff and contractors met more than 60 times during the course of the project to coordinate and minimize shut-downs during the re-routing of vital systems – including water, HVAC, electrical and pneumatic systems – for interim construction periods.

No place like home
In the end, the project was delivered on budget and nearly one month ahead of the expected completion date.

The “M” unit is housed directly over the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which had to move to a temporary location while work was done.  The desire to return that critical unit to its proper and permanent spot in the hospital inspired workers to keep ahead of the planned work schedule.

The new “M” room will operate with greater load capacity at significantly less cost than with the previous equipment. More than $500,000 in energy cost savings was realized on the project as a result of energy-efficient systems selected by the hospital.

The finished project now stands as a model for efficiency in operations, and is a shining example of the success that can be achieved when communication is highlighted and maintained.

PROJECT TEAM + STATS:
Location: Portland, Oregon
Cost: $19.149 million
Start date: April 2012
Completion date: July 2013
Owner/developer: Providence
Architect: McBride Architects
Engineers: Glumac, KPFF Consulting Engineers
General contractor: Andersen Construction

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SUBMITTED?BY: HOWARD?S. WRIGHT & SCOTT | EDWARDS ARCHITECTURE

One Community Health Clinic has provided primary medical, dental and behavioral health care to low-income residents in The Dalles community since 1986.  The clinic’s leased facility was outdated with no potential for renovation or expansion.  A federal grant was awarded to build a new facility.

“This one was all about people,” said Dan Callahan, project manager for Howard S. Wright, the project’s general contractor.  “We had over 100 people show up for the groundbreaking — regular town people who were grateful for what we were doing.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had people come up and shake my hand, and thank me at the start of a project.  From that point on, I think everyone – subcontractors, workers, our crew – took this one to heart, like they were working on something for their own families.”

The non-profit clinic now sports a LEED certification. It is designed to be 20 percent more energy efficient than required by code, boasts high-efficiency HVAC, features plentiful natural daylight and renewable building materials, and features onsite stormwater treatment.
More than 20 percent of the direct construction cost was locally sourced.  The two-story building is clad in Columbia River basalt, and locally sourced wood and fiber cement siding.

The design supports the “patient-centered medical home” organizational model for optimizing spatial efficiency while providing an inviting and comfortable environment for both patients and staff.

Prior to the project breaking ground, areas of groundwater were detected that qualified as federally protected wetlands.

“It looked like barren field, but it met the criteria,” Callahan said.

The project team worked with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to mitigate the affected area with a combination of grading offsets and landscaping.

“The whole project was like that,” Callahan said. “Everybody connected with it cooperated and worked to make it happen.  It was a really great feeling to see it all come together.”

PROJECT?TEAM + STATS:
Location: The Dalles, Oregon
Cost: $4.396 million
Start date: May 2012
Completion date: January 2013
Owner/developer: One Community Health
Architect: Scott|Edwards Architecture
Engineer: Interface Engineering
General contractor: Howard S. Wright

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Beginning Jan. 1 of next year nearly all businesses with employees working in Portland will be required to start providing sick leave for their employees. For the majority of those employees their sick leave will be paid time off.

For any employers who weren’t paying attention when this citywide ordinance was passed, this could be quite a shock.  However, if employers understand the rules, compliance should not prove to be too complicated.

With the exception of federal, state, and local government agencies (other than the city of Portland), nearly all employers with employees working within Portland are covered by the ordinance. The only distinction that is made for the size of the employer is whether the new mandatory sick leave will be paid or unpaid leave. Companies employing six or more people for 240 hours or more within Portland are required to provide the leave as paid time off. Companies with five or fewer such employees must provide the same sick leave, but are not obligated to pay employees during their leave.

Only those employees who work 240 or more hours with the city limits are covered by the ordinance. Time spent traveling through the city does not count, unless the employee stops within the city to perform work-related tasks. For example, an employee whose job involves driving back and forth from Beaverton to Gresham each day, without stopping along the way to perform work tasks, will not be eligible even if the time travelling within the city limits exceeds 240 hours. However, an employee whose job involves traveling from Beaverton to Gresham and back making deliveries, including within Portland, will be able to count all of the time they spend within the city limits toward the 240 hour requirement.

Leave accrual: bank on it

Current employees will begin accruing the new sick leave on January 1, 2014. Employees hired after that darw will begin accruing hours on their first day of work, but will not be eligible to begin using their hours during their first 90 days of employment. The sick leave will accrue at the rate of one hour of sick leave for every thirty hours they work within the city, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year.  For accrual purposes, full-time exempt employees are presumed to work 40 hours per week.

While employees may not accrue more than 40 hours in a year, they must be allowed to carry over their unused hours to the next year, up to a maximum of 40 hours. As they are only allowed to accrue, use and carryover 40 hours each year, the employee’s sick leave bank can never exceed 80 hours, although only 40 are available for use in a year.

By way of example, if an employee works all of 2014 without using any sick leave, he or she will carry 40 hours over into 2015. The employee will then start 2015 with a full bank of 40 hours. The employee will also begin accruing additional hours, up to a maximum of 40 more for 2015. Assuming the employee does not use any sick leave in 2015, he or she would have 80 hours of sick leave in their accrual bank on December 31, 2015, but only 40 would carry over into 2016. The remaining 40 hours would expire.

Now, assume the employee uses all 40 of those hours beginning on January 1, 2016. He or she would still be eligible to accrue another 40 hours in 2016, but those hours would have to be carried over into 2017 because the employee had already used the maximum allowed in a year.

Several scenarios

Employees may not use more than 40 hours of the new mandatory sick leave in a year. The employees must be allowed to use the sick leave in increments of one hour, unless the employer chooses to allow smaller increments.

The leave may only be used for hours the employee is scheduled to work within the city of Portland, but may be used for a variety of reasons. First, the hours may be used for the diagnosis, care or treatment of the employee’s or a family members’ illness, injury or health condition. In addition, they may be used in connection with Oregon’s Domestic Violence Leave provisions. They also may be used to cover scheduled work time if the employee or an employee’s family member poses a health threat to the community, if the employee’s place of work is closed due to a public health emergency, or if the school or place of care attended by an employee’s child is closed due to a public health emergency.

Details, details, details

There are several other noteworthy provisions in the new ordinance. Employers are not required to cash out of any accrued — but unused — sick leave upon termination, but if the employee is rehired within six months the accrued leave must be returned to them. Employers are required to post notices containing employees’ rights under this ordinance, in English and in any other language used to communicate with the workforce. Employers may not retaliate against employees for exercising their rights under this ordinance, and it shall be enforced by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI).

The bottom line: employers should read the ordinance in its entirety to ensure compliance.

An on a final note, this ordinance is intended to set a floor, not a ceiling. Employers are free to provide more leave than the law requires, but they must ensure that their policies allow for at least the minimum requirements established by the ordinance and that there are no use restrictions in their current policy that would violate the ordinance.

Mitch Baker is a partner in the Portland-based law firm of Fisher & Phillips. He can be reached at 503-242-4262 or at mbaker@laborlawyers.com.

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Bid Date/Time: Nov. 16, 2 p.m.

The health care industry is expected to grow in Oregon by 23 percent over the next five years, and create 25,000 new job opportunities by 2014. Approximately 70 percent of Oregon’s health-care workers are trained at community colleges, and Central Oregon Community College continues to provide a variety of opportunities.

This project consists of construction of a three-story, 47,000-square-foot building on a site at COCC’s campus in Bend.

The Health Careers Building will include general-purpose classrooms, faculty offices and seminar rooms. Also planned are simulation labs to train nurses, medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, licensed massage therapists and dental assistants. The latter two areas also will operate as public clinics, on a part-time basis.

A steel structure will be constructed, and include concrete stair towers. The building will be clad with materials including masonry, wood siding, wood shingles, glass and metal panels. Project partners expect to apply for gold certification through the Earth Advantage-Commercial program.

Work will commence on or before Dec. 6, and final completion is scheduled for April 30, 2012.

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