Members of the Oregon legislature have been busy this session tackling issues related to the workplace. While these two new laws aren’t quite in effect yet, once the bills are signed, they will change how scheduling and overtime, respectively, operate in different sectors. Stay aware of these incoming changes so your company can accommodate for them early, if necessary.

Predictive Scheduling

The Oregon legislature recently passed Senate Bill 828 (PDF), which requires employers in the retail, hospitality, and food service industries that have 500 or more employees worldwide to provide their employees with work schedules in advance. These employers will be required to provide new employees with written estimates of their work schedules and current employees with seven days’ notice of their upcoming work schedules. After July 1, 2020, employers will be required to provide current employees with two weeks’ notice of their schedules. The bill is awaiting Governor Kate Brown’s signature and, once signed, will be effective July 1, 2018.

The bill also requires large employers in these industries to provide employees with at least 10-hour breaks between shifts. If they don’t, the employer will be required to pay the employee 1.5 times their scheduled rate of pay for the shift after the shortened break. These employers will also be required to pay a penalty wage to employees if they change an employee’s scheduled shift with less than seven days’ notice, unless the schedule change is out of the employer’s control.

The bill also makes it unlawful for covered employers to interfere with an employee’s rights under this law, to retaliate against an employee for exercising his or her rights under this law, or to retaliate against an employee for requesting a preferred schedule.

UPDATE ON AUGUST 8, 2017: Governor Kate Brown signed into law Senate Bill 828. The scheduling requirements of the law go into effect July 1, 2018. See more details on this law including information on an upcoming training from our friends at Bullard Law.


Overtime Rules in Manufacturing

The Oregon legislature also passed a bill that clarifies overtime payments for manufacturing employers. House Bill 3458 (PDF) stipulates that manufacturing employers have to pay the higher amount of daily and weekly overtime in a workweek, not both. The bill also prohibits manufacturing employees from working more than 55 hours per week, though an additional five hours per week will be permitted if the employee agrees or requests to work them. So, even at his or her request, a manufacturing employee will not be allowed to work more than 60 hours in any given workweek.

The bill does allow the cap to raise to 80 hours per week for up to 21 weeks, upon filing of an undue hardship notice with the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), for manufacturers working with perishable products. Within that 21-week period, the cap will be able to be raised to 84 hours per week for four weeks, upon filing of an additional undue hardship notice. The bill is awaiting Governor Brown’s signature. Weekly hour caps and penalties for noncompliance will go into effect January 2018.