Oregon (OR) Labor and Employment Laws

September 20th, 2006 Posted by Marilyn

The Bureau of Labor and Industries is the agency in Oregon that deals with labor laws. This department is in place to educate the public about the laws as well as offer guidance to employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities under such laws. The agency enforces the laws in the workplace to protect everyone and to maintain a fair and profitable workforce in the state.

Oregon (OR) labor and employment laws cover all aspects of employment and at some time or another affects everyone. One law or another governs the whole employment process from recruitment and hiring to termination and unemployment. Working individuals are usually most concerned with the wage and hour laws, these laws address issues like minimum wage, overtime and break periods. The state minimum wage is one of the highest in the nation at $7.50 per hour. Oregon is also one of few states that mandates breaks for employees. The law requires an uninterrupted period in which the employee is relieved of all duties for at least thirty minutes when working at least 6 consecutive hours. Those under 18 must be given a break after 5 hours.

Oregon (OR) labor and employment laws are much stricter when it comes to the employment of minors. The only laws pertaining to adults regarding hours are the offering of the break period and payment of overtime for hours worked in excess of forty. In the case of those under 18 there are limitations depending on the age of the employee. Those who are 14 or 15 can not be scheduled during school hours, more than 3 hours a day or more than 18 hours per week. They also cannot work after 7 p.m. 16 and 17 year olds may work any hours as long as they do not exceed more than 44 per week. No minor shall ever be employed in what may be considered a hazardous occupation.

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Posted in Compliance Issues, Employer Requirements, Employment Laws, Labor Law Regulations, Labor and Employment, Oregon, Oregon

  1. Posted by: Dylan Bird

    I have a couple questions that if anyone had the information to i would appreciat some feed back. I was recently terminated from my job for being late. I feel that i have been discriminated against because of my gender. I am a male. Within the last three weeks I know of two other girls who were late and did not recieve write ups. I even over heard my manager tell one of the girls that she had been written up for this prior and that in that write up she wasn’t to be late or she would lose her job. However the girl did not got written up my manager camly smiled and they seemed to joke about the incident. I have also worked shifts of well over 8 hours and not recieved breaks due to the steady flow of business and on a few occassions wasnt even offered a break. What do I do about this i feel that because im a male in the service industry I’m treated less fairly than the women by my male managers. One more side note I was in a verbal disagreance with one of the girls I worked with about 4 months ago and i was the one who was written up because she told the managers that she felt threatend by myself although i made no agrgressives motions or verbal comments i simply talked to her and was red in the face because i was frustrated yet i was repremended.l About a month later the same girl got into a similar verbal disagreament with another girl yet this time she was written up for the same behaivor she exhibited towards me.

  2. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Dylan! Well, first of all, if you want your claim of discrimination based on sex to be taken seriously, you should stop referring to the women you work with as “girls” unless they are under the age of 15. It sounds sexist.
    Discrimination against male employees does occur in many industries, including nursing and hospitality. We cannot say for sure that it occurred here, but it may have. If you feel that you were treated differently in similar circumstances due to your sex, then you should file a complaint of sex discrimination with the federal EEOC or with the Oregon Civil Rights Division. Note that the circumstances must be very similar, or it probably is not discrimination. Suppose a female employee was 10 minutes late, and she was not written up. A male employee was an hour late, and he was written up. That is not illegal discrimination based on sex. However, if both employees were an hour late, and the male employee was treated differently, that may be illegal discrimination. (It is also possible that the female employee was pregnant or had another condition that would qualify her for intermittent FMLA. The employer is prohibited from sharing that information with you.)
    The employer should have ensured that you complied with the state break laws. Oregon law does permit an employer to require the employee to handle work duties during the meal break if the nature of the work requires it — for example, when a restaurant is understaffed or especially busy. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

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