The Oregon Legislature recently wrapped up its 2021 session. In addition to the updates, we shared in previous posts, the following is an overview of some other employment-related bills that were passed during this session.
HB 3398 – Oregon Paid Family Medical Leave
- This bill delays the implementation of certain provisions of the state’s Paid Family Medical leave law including:
- The start date for employer and employee contributions to the fund is delayed until January 1, 2023. They were previously scheduled to begin on January 1, 2022.
- The start date for benefit payments to individuals is delayed until September 3, 2023, previously scheduled to begin on January 1, 2023.
- The bill is awaiting signature by the Governor.
HB 2420 – Workplace Safety Anti-Retaliation Protection
- Effective January 1, 2022, this bill extends the timeline for employees to file a complaint with BOLI for retaliation and/or discrimination for having made a workplace safety complaint from 90 days to one year.
HB 2818 – Vaccination/Hiring Incentives & the Equal Pay Act
- The bill exempts incentives paid to employees for getting a vaccine from the definition of compensation for purposes of pay equity.
- It also exempts hiring bonuses paid to prospective employees and retention bonuses paid to current employees from the definition of compensation for equal pay purposes until March 1, 2022.
SB 569 – Driver’s License in Employment
- Effective January 1, 2022, this bill makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require an employee or prospective employee to possess or present a valid driver’s license as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.
- Employers may require an employee to have a valid driver’s license if driving is an essential function of the job or is related to a legitimate business purpose.
- Additionally, employers cannot refuse to accept from an employee or prospective employee, as an alternative to a driver license, any other identification documents that are deemed acceptable for the purpose of forms required by the Federal government (I-9 forms) used for verifying the identity and employment authorization in the U.S.