Oregon Legislative Updates

Overview:   New laws effective this month require employers to comply with several new restrictions and mandates.  The laws restrict password collection and criminal history inquiries, support pay transparency, and require both the continuation of benefits during family leave, and additional* paid time off for victims of domestic violence and stalking.   Below we have provided a brief overview of the laws that recently passed, and how they will impact your business.  

Coverage:  All employers with employees working in Oregon.
 
Effective Date: Currently in effect

Action Required:   Contact your Human Resources Business Partner if you have any questions regarding these developments.

The Details

Pay Transparency

HB 2007 makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discharge, demote, suspend, or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against an employee who has:

• Inquired about, discussed or disclosed in any manner the wages of the employee or of another employee; or
• Made a charge, filed a complaint or instituted, or caused to be instituted, an investigation, proceeding, hearing or action based on the disclosure of wage information by the employee.

The law does not, however, protect employees who have access to employees’ wage information as part of their job functions and who disclose the employees’ wages to individuals not authorized access to the information, unless the disclosure is in response to a charge or complaint or is in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing or action, including but not limited to an investigation conducted by the employer.

Continuation of Health Insurance Coverage While on Family Leave

HB 2600 amends the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA or the “Act”) to make it mandatory that employers continue group health insurance coverage during an employee’s period of family leave if the employee is provided with group health insurance (on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work).   While the Act requires covered employers to provide a leave of absence to employees for parental leave, pregnancy disability leave, bereavement leave, or time off to care for a sick child or to care for the employee's or a family member's serious health condition, it presently provides that benefits are not required to continue during a period of family leave unless continuation or accrual is required under either 1) an agreement between the employer and employee; 2) a collective bargaining agreement; or 3) an employer policy.

If family member coverage is provided to the employee, family member coverage must be maintained during the period of family leave.  The employee must continue to make any regular contributions to the cost of the health insurance premiums during leave that he or she was making prior to the leave. Note: If the employer is required or elects to pay any part of the costs of providing health, disability, life or other insurance coverage for an employee during the period of family leave that should have been paid by the employee, the employer may deduct from the employees pay such amounts upon the employees return to work until the amount the employer advanced toward the payments is paid.  In no event may the total amount deducted for insurance under the provisions of this subsection exceed 10 percent of the employee’s gross pay each pay period.

Restrictions on Criminal History Inquiries.

Oregon also passed HB 3025 prohibiting most employers from asking questions about criminal history on job applications or at any other point in the hiring process before the initial interview.  This is equivalent to many other ban-the-box laws that exist nationwide.

The Oregon statute expressly prohibits:

• the use of a job application form that asks about an applicant’s conviction history;
• asking about or considering an applicant’s conviction history prior to interviewing the applicant; or
• asking about or considering an applicant’s conviction history before a making any offer of employment without an interview. 

Oregon employers should assume they are covered under the statute unless they fall under one of the following exempted categories:

• law enforcement agencies;
• employers in the criminal justice system (not defined in the new law);
• employers seeking nonemployee volunteers; and
• other employers who are required by federal, state or local law to consider an applicant’s criminal history.

Use of Paid Sick Leave by Victims of Domestic Violence.

Oregon law entitles an employee who is the victim of harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking to take a leave of absence to obtain medical, legal, law enforcement, and social services related to the incident.  The statute does not require an employer to provide paid leave, but permits an employee to use available accrued paid vacation or other paid time off during the leave period.  As many employers are already aware, Oregon employers must also now provide their employees with paid sick leave.  Under SB 492, the statute providing leave for victims of domestic violence is amended to explicitly provide that an employee may also use available accrued paid sick leave or personal business leave during a period of leave under the statute. The employer retains the discretion to determine the order in which paid accrued leave is to be used when more than one type of paid accrued leave is available to the employee.

As always, please contact your Human Resources Business partner if you have questions.