Employment Blog

Topic: Employment Benefits

Is Health Insurance a Right for Oregon Workers?

Oregon, like most states in the USA, applies two different rules for small businesses and large enterprises. The indicator that is used for deciding whether a company is a small or large employer is the number of employees it has on its books. According to Oregon health insurance rules, only

Read More »

Sick Leave Laws in Oregon

In Oregon, employers have to offer a sick leave rate of one hour for each 30 hours worked. Employees are capable of earning up to 40 hours of time in a year. An employer with between six and 10 employees is considered a small business employer, and their employees may

Read More »

The OregonSaves Program

Most state governments plan to launch state-sponsored retirement saving programs. They are doing this in response to the retirement crisis. Currently, Oregon and Illinois are the leading states. They launched a retirement savings plan in July 2017 and June 2017, respectively. Therefore, employees in Oregon have a new and easy

Read More »

Unions

A recent poll by PwC Consultants provides interesting data about those who shop on Black Friday. In 2015, the poll found that 59% of those responding stated that they would be going out to shop on Black Friday. In contrast, a poll this year finds that only 35% will be

Read More »

Initiative 1433

The Evergreen State has long been aggressive in pursuing a robust minimum wage. Whether the reason is fairness to workers, a living wage, or the idea of stimulating economic activity from the bottom, the legislature has continually pushed to provide a minimum wage that exceeds national standards. In November of

Read More »

Employees Should be Informed on Possible Wage Revisions

Northern Nevada Business Weekly recently reported that local employers must remain on alert for the extent to which wage-based regulations may be subject to federal revision and impact their management practices as a result. In particular, there may be a revision of current policy involving tip-pooling and businesses that would

Read More »

Knowing the Rights of Your Nevada Employees

While your company is itself subject to legal protections, there is still no doubt that it must conscientiously navigate the rights of its employees and of those prospective hires that may soon be. So long as your business acknowledges those rights appropriately, it will have remained on the right side

Read More »

Origins of Unions and Employment Law

Unions are something that most Americans have heard about. In the past, the media covered unions like the Major League Baseball Players Union. During the Great Recession and the auto bankruptcies, there was much coverage of the Auto Workers Union. The airlines consistently negotiate with unions representing pilots and mechanics.

Read More »

The Keys to Unlocking Workplace Happiness

Happiness at work: everyone wants it. But can everyone get it? Believe it or not, the answer is “yes.” Even if you’re not working your dream job, there are some things you can do to be happy wherever you are. Just remember the two R’s:relationships and results.   Relationships  

Read More »

Pasco City Manager Retires After 30 Years

A Tri-City Herald article looks at the recent announcement of City Manager Crutchfield’s retirement. After more than 30 years serving the City of Pasco, Gary Crutchfield will retire this summer. In 1978, Crutchfield took his first position with the City as the community development director. Six years later, Crutchfield became

Read More »

Washington Employers & Wellness Programs

Recently the Seattle Times published a story focusing on the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, on employer provided health insurance benefits. The article addresses many employee concerns, such as reduced hours to avoid required employee coverage, increased premiums, and changes in benefits. It also discusses a

Read More »

Flu Season and Seattle Paid Sick Leave

Flu season is in full swing and a recent Seattle Times story urges people to get flu shots and, if they have the flu, to stay home. Staying home allows for faster healing by making it easier to get rest, hydration, and medications, and helps prevent the spread of the

Read More »

Will SeaTac Set the Stage for Raising Minimum Wage?

Minimum wage has been a hot button issue in 2013, with several states across the country raising their minimum wage amounts and Washington, D.C. lawmakers trying to do so on the federal level. Fast food workers in particular have been walking off the job, demanding a wage increase to $15.00

Read More »

More Developments in ACA Employer Lawsuits

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that every health insurance plan, including plans provided by employers, offer preventive health services with no cost sharing. For the purposes of the new law, the Department of Health and Human Services defined appropriate preventive benefits for women to include the entire range of

Read More »

Union "No" Could Lead Boeing To Go

Boeing recently presented a new contract that would have Seattle aircraft manufacturer buildings its new 777X airplanes at union-represented Seattle plants. Despite having moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2001, Boeing has been an airline manufacturing mainstay in Seattle since the early 1900s. So the company felt fairly secure in

Read More »

Amazon Teams Up With USPS For Sunday Deliveries

Amazon has been in the headlines a lot lately. First, it announced its intent to hire nearly 70,000 holiday employees, many of whom could become full-time after the holiday season. Now Amazon has made a deal with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide its customers with Sunday deliveries.

Read More »

Rights Under Oregon Wage and Hour Laws

All Oregon employees have specific rights under both state and federal wage and hour laws. On the federal level, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employer pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour, as well as time and a half that hourly wage for overtime

Read More »

Mayor Vetoes Living Wage Bill

As previously discussed on this blog, Washington, D.C. lawmakers had approved a bill that would require large retailers to pay their employees a living wage of at least $12.50 per hour, as opposed to the usual D.C. minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. The bill, called the Large Retailer Accountability

Read More »

New Trends in Vacation Policies

One of the many perks of many jobs is the ability to take paid time off or paid vacation time. However, vacation time can also be a touchy subject in many workplaces. For instance, employees often complain that favoritism can play a huge role in manager approval of certain employees’

Read More »

The New Retirement

There was a time when people could expect to retire at 65 and feel that their employer’s pension or retirement package would be enough to make retirement comfortable. There was a time when retirees would move to warm climates and golf daily. That was then, now retirement has become something

Read More »

Pre-shift and Post-shift Work Deserves Compensation

Many employers believe they can expect employees to prepare for a shift and/or wind down from a shift on unpaid time. For example it is common for employers to require set up or meetings before employees clock in, or break down of equipment or clean up after clocking out. Under

Read More »

ALEC Tries to Disguise Bills That Attack Workers

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization composed of United State federal and state legislators, foundations, and corporations. ALEC members work to create so-called model policies for legislators to introduce as bills in their respective states. These bills generally focus on limited government and federalism at the state

Read More »

The Importance of a Living Wage

The issue of the living wage has become the center of many debates and conversations across the United States as of late. Separate from minimum wage, living wage refers to the minimum amount of income a person requires to meet basic needs based on their circumstances, such as family, dependents,

Read More »

SeaTac Voters Could Establish Country’s Highest Minimum Wage

This November, voters in the city of SeaTac could pass the SeaTac Good Jobs Initiative (“GJI”), which would establish the highest minimum wage in the country, according to an article from Seattle-based KOMO News Network. The SeaTac ballot initiative would establish a minimum wage of $15 per hour for certain

Read More »

Washington Employees Right to Workplace Breaks

For many Washington employees, there are lots of places he or she would rather be than at work. Isn’t it funny how an 8-hour work day can feel more like 12-hour work day? Work is hard for everyone and other than downing copious amounts of caffeine in between shifts (which

Read More »

PERS Reform: Budget Woes Are Hurting Teachers and Students

In our last post, we discussed how Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) has been the subject of ongoing criticism and attempts at reform. Specifically, we explored one of the major liabilities of the system – the Money Match pension formula that has significantly raised pension costs for government employers

Read More »

Seattle’s Sick Law Extends Past Seattle

Washington employers, do you know about Seattle’s sick and Seattle’s sick and safe time law yet? time law yet? To surmise, the Sick and Safe Leave ordinance (Seattle Municipal Code 14.16) requires businesses located within the city of Seattle to provide paid sick and safe leave to their employees (notice

Read More »

Company Health Tracking Programs Raise Privacy Concerns for Employees

In the quest for ever-increasing output, many companies have begun implementing health and wellness initiatives to ensure that their employees remain healthy, happy, and (most importantly) productive. However, a Portland company at the forefront of the quantified self movement – which uses statistical data about a person’s characteristics and activities

Read More »

Supreme Court Affirms Primacy of ERISA Plan Documents

  In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court that an ERISA plan’s specific procedure for designating beneficiaries controls over other instruments that may conflict with it.  In the case, Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for the DuPont Savings & Investment Plan, an employee designated his wife as the beneficiary for

Read More »

New Federal Law Requires Equal Coverage for Mental Illnesses

  A new law quietly passed as part of the recent economic bailout package that requires insurance coverage to be equal for mental and physical illnesses.  Health plans commonly provide less, or different, coverage for mental illness and addiction disorders than for physical illnesses.  In particular, health plans have regularly

Read More »

Confusion Surrounds Government Curbs on Executive Compensation

  There has been a great deal of discussion recently on the need to address the widely-perceived problem of executive overcompensation.  The recent financial meltdown on Wall Street has intensified this discussion.  The federal government recently indicated that banks that accept cash infusions as part of the current financial bailout

Read More »

Supreme Court Hears Important ERISA Case

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral argument in the MetLife v. Glenn case.  This is an important case that could affect all future lawsuits to collect benefits under an employee benefit plan.  Where an employee benefits lawsuit is governed by ERISA, the lawyers in nearly every case argue over

Read More »

Boeing Joins List of Companies Seeking Pension Changes

Boeing this week added itself to the list of companies that are phasing out defined benefit pension plans.  In negotiations with its unions, Boeing is proposing that all new employees be enrolled in a 401(k) type plan supplemented with contributions by Boeing.  The proposal is not surprising.  Many companies are

Read More »

Subrogation and Reimbursement of Overpaid Benefits Under ERISA Plans

Recent court cases have highlighted the thorny issues that arise when a benefit plan enforces its subrogation rights or seeks reimbursement of overpaid employee benefits.  Plan administrators have faced uncertainty about subrogation and reimbursement claims in the wake of the Supreme Court rulings in Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services,

Read More »

Supreme Court Considers Another Case On ERISA Remedies

As noted below, on February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a remedy issue under ERISA.  Employees can sue under ERISA Section 502(a)(2) for fiduciary breaches that impair the value of assets in a 401(k) account.  Last week, the Supreme Court signaled that it may now address the issue of

Read More »

$4 Million Award to Former Executive in Non-Compete Dispute

I wrote a few words below about non-compete agreements and their proliferation.  Now comes a story about a company that must pay $4 Million for denying compensation to an executive who refused to sign a non-compete agreement.  In this particular situation, the employer (H&R Block) attempted to force its Chief

Read More »

Supreme Court Allows Employee to Sue for 401(k) Losses

Today the Supreme Court said that a 401(k) participant can sue for losses when a plan fiduciary fails to follow investment directions.   In the case, James LaRue of Southlake,Texas, contends that his stock market holdings plunged $150,000 because administrators of his 401(k) retirement plan failed to follow his instructions to

Read More »