As it currently stands, OLCC requires their licensees to renew their licenses on an annual basis. The Oregon Restaurant Association has recently filed a rulemaking petition to allow licensees of the OLCC to renew their licenses every two years rather than annually as now required. This will only apply to licensees who are renewing their license, not first time applicants. The first application as a licensee will always be for one year; however, any renewal after the initial year can be for one or two years.
Jim Weidner, ORA member and owner of the Lago de Chapala restaurant in Yamhill, secured the Republican nomination for District 24 State Representative during Tuesday’s primary election. Facing opponents Jim Bunn and Ed Glad for the Republican nomination, Weidner took home over 3800 votes, or 54 percent of the District 24 Republican electorate.
Appeals Court Ruling Overturned in Meal Period Case
On Thursday, May 15, the Oregon Supreme Court reversed the Oregon Court of Appeals and found that, when an employee misses a rest break, there is no private claim for wages or wage penalties. Originally filed back in 2004, this case was presented by two Legacy Health Systems employees who argued that, because their job was so demanding and forced them to skip breaks, they were entitled to additional compensation for those breaks. When the case was first presented to the Supreme Court, the Oregon Restaurant Association filed an Amicus Brief, or friend-of-the-court brief, on behalf of the restaurant industry in order to help defend other business interests and assist Legacy Health Systems. In its ruling, the court found that the enforcing agency, the Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI), can assess fines if employees are not taking rest breaks but the employee cannot bring a wage claim. This decision is a big win, not only for Legacy Health Systems, but for all Oregon employers as this is a particularly hot area for class-action litigation. Davis Wright & Tremaine were lead council on the case and ORA used the resources at Dunn Carney law firm to represent us in our Amicus Brief. The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous, which is particularly remarkable given our current bench. Further information on this case can be found at one of the following links:
In 2005, Governor Kulongoski agreed to support the Warm Springs Tribe's efforts to build on an industrial site in Cascade Locks in exchange for the tribe's promise to close its casino in Central Oregon and forgo developing a more sensitive site on tribal land in Hood River.
The Oregon Restaurant Association (ORA) and Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) have started a coalition of Oregon Business groups in order to work towards a long-term solution to the immigration issue. As of today there are more than 20 business associations participating in the Coalition for Working Oregon. The overall goal of the coalition is to develop a strategy for a comprehensive federal solution. We will start this process by contracting an economic study on the impact to Oregon's businesses and by hiring a coordinator dedicated to organizing all Oregon business groups so that the same message is being sent from every group to our congressional delegation. However, we first need to understand how we arrived in this position.
Senate Bill 10, which passed during the 2007 regular session, is now in affect and imposing strict limits on gifts to public officials and state employees from lobbyists and others with a legislative interest. The bill requires quarterly electronic ethics reporting and prohibits public officials from receiving gifts exceeding a $50 value from a source with legislative or administrative interest during a calendar year. This $50 limit includes the cost of food and refreshments. Any gift of entertainment is prohibited unless "incidental" or "ceremonial".
Senate President Peter Courtney’s supplemental legislative session will commence February 4, 2008 with an expected end date of Friday, February 29. Oregon currently stands as one of a handful of states where annual sessions are illegal. For those reasons, this special session has been deemed an emergency session by either Legislative leadership or the governor. This first-of-its-kind supplemental session will serve as a trial run for annual sessions.
In September 2007, Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner announced that there would be a 15-cent an hour consumer price adjustment to Oregon’s minimum wage. This increase will be effective as of January 1, 2008. Once this adjustment is in place, Oregon’s Minimum wage will be $7.95 an hour, making it the second highest minimum wage in the nation. Washington State will once again lead the nation on January 1 when their minimum wage increases to $8.07 an hour. Like Oregon, their increase comes from an indexing component.
November 26, 2007 – Effective today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) that must be used for all new employees hired in the United States. The revision was announced on November 7 and became effective after being published in the Federal Register on November 26.
As of January 1, 2008 employees that receive tips and report them to their employers will have the option to waive their 30-minute mandatory meal period. This new option came under an Oregon Restaurant Association sponsored bill that was passed during the 2007 legislative session. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has already adopted the new guidelines for the meal period waiver.
During the last legislative session, teachers unions in Oregon focused part of their agenda on gift cards issued by businesses. They fought hard in an attempt to pass legislation that would require all unredeemed gift card funds be taken away from businesses and given to schools. ORA pushed back and, in the end, their efforts were unsuccessful. However, business groups had to agree to protect consumers that paid full price for gift cards as a compromise. Though this battle was lost, the teachers unions have repeatedly raised the issue of unredeemed gift cards for several sessions now and there is no expectation that that will change during future sessions.
