The Oregon Biz Report - Business News from Oregon

Supreme Court Rules That Employer Can Be Sued For Retaliating Against Fiancé Of Worker Who Filed Discrimination Claim
By Barran Liebman
Oregon law firm

In a new ruling that expands the legal protections against retaliation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on January 24, 2011, that an employee who claims he was fired because his fiancé filed a sex discrimination charge may sue their mutual employer for retaliation under federal law. The case is Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP.

Thompson and his fiancé both worked for North American Stainless (NAS). He claimed that after his fiancé filed a sex discrimination charge against NAS with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the company retaliated by firing him. Thompson sued under Title VII, claiming that NAS fired him to retaliate against his fiancé for filing her charge with the EEOC. The structure of the claim was certainly unusual — it would probably not have raised questions if his fiancé had sued on the theory that the company fired her fiancé to retaliate against her. But the twist here was that she would not have suffered any financial loss — since he was the one who lost the job.

by David Chavern
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Reaching a new low, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress has now decided to blame the US Chamber of Commerce for unrest in Egypt! What’s next – holding us responsible for snow storms in the Northeast and volcanoes in Iceland? Showing an penchant for international conspiracy theories worthy of Robert Ludlum and the John Birch Society, C.A.P. somehow ties together the Mubarak regime, the activities of an individual who is President of the AmCham in Cairo and John Negroponte into some theory whereby the U.S. Chamber has been repressing democracy in Egypt. Wow! The Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group have nothing on us.

Oregon Small Business Association,

Accenture is a business consulting firm who deserves our ad of the month for their simple yet effective ad promoting their business advice services.

California Lutheran University,
CLU Center for Economic Research & Forecasting
Bill Watkins

While the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research), the arbitrators of recession start and end dates, declared the United States recession officially over in June 2009, the country has only recently generated positive job growth, weak positive job growth, but positive, and it is welcome. This has been a long and painful recession, and while millions are still unemployed, I believe we are finally seeing the initial (tepid) stages of a sustained recovery.

Oregon’s jobs recovery has lagged the United States by a few months. However, in October and November, Oregon’s job gains were much stronger than the United States job growth. One result of the Oregon’s job growth acceleration is that, on a year-over-year basis, Oregon’s job performance actually outpaced that of the United States in November.

President Obama on Competitiveness: Impacts on Business
By Bill Conerly,
Conerly Consulting, Businomics

The President’s State of the Union message spent a good deal of time on competitiveness, and rightfully so. So let’s talk about what business can expect from efforts to improve the nation’s competitiveness.

SOU To begin, the nation does not really compete. Workers compete for jobs, consumers compete to buy stuff, businesses compete for sales and productive resources. The government, per se, does not engage in global economic competition.

That means you, as business leader, worker or consumer, are responsible for your own success or failure, at least as a first approximation.

By Tony DeCristoforo
Stoel Rives LLP,
Oregon Law Firm

A clear and comprehensive computer policy is an essential component of any employee handbook. Last week, a California appellate court ruled that when such a policy is in place, an employee who uses the company computer to e-mail her attorney about perceived harassment and discrimination in the workplace waives the attorney-client privilege.

In Holmes v. Petrovich Development Company, the plaintiff alleged that she was the victim of sexual harassment and retaliation arising from her employer’s response to her pregnancy. Before quitting her job, the plaintiff used her work computer to send e-mails to her attorney regarding possible legal action. As might be expected, the employer subsequently located these e-mails on its computer system, and used the e-mails as part of its defense of the employee’s lawsuit.

Property Tax Appeals Draining Cities and States
By Oregon Small Business Association

As Americans watched the real estate market decline 30.5 percent below the April 2006 peak, according to the 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller index , many homeowners decided to appeal their property tax rate. Property owners are appealing their taxes by submitting an appraisal and other records to local or state appeals boards or courts claiming that a tax assessment is too high. The increase in appeals has significantly increased city and state debt because decreased property tax revenue means more pressure on local governments to cut services.

Nationally, revenue from property taxes rose 7.8 percent to $90.5 billion. The money was distributed by sending $87.7 billion to local governments and $2.8 billion to the states.

Top 20 Oregon business complaints by industry
By Oregon Better Business Bureau,

Top Complaints
1.  Auto Dealers – New Cars
2.  Auto Dealers – Used Cars
3.  Identity Theft Protection & Prevention Services
4.  Photographic Equipment & Supplies – Retail
5.  Video Tapes Discs Sales & Rentals

Restaurant tip pooling now legal in Oregon
By Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association,

Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association (ORLA) has achieved a big management victory for table service restaurants. Employers can now require servers to participate in a tip pool that redistributes some of their tips to the back of the house without violating federal wage and hour law.

In 2009, an attorney filed a suit (Cumbie V. Woody Woo, Inc.) against Vita Café a small restaurant in Portland, claiming they were using an illegal tip pool among their employees. The original district court ruling – instead of addressing the specifics involved around the individual restaurant – declared that tip pools in Oregon are not illegal since the state does not allow a tip credit.

35% Health Care Tax Credit is a sham
by Greg Galdabini
By U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The House was smart to pass legislation this week repealing the health care reform law enacted last year. The law is so flawed and complex that even a provision as seemingly beneficial to small businesses as the 35% tax credit for the purchase of employee health care has turned out to be major disappointment to some.

Here’s an excerpt from an article that reports on the experience of Alex Bryant, owner of Weld Direct Corporation in Florida:

By Oregon Small Business Association;

The IRS has moved Tax Day from April 15th to April 18th for 2011. The move is due to a holiday celebrated in the District of Columbia known as Emancipation Day. Emancipation Day falls on April 16th (a Saturday) but will be observed on April 15th (a Friday). IRS rules prohibit a tax day from falling on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. The year 2007 was the last time the IRS had to extend tax filing day.

The IRS estimates that as many as 9 million taxpayers will be impacted by this date change.

See story on CNN news here

By Patrick Emerson
Oregon Economics Blog
.

From United Van Lines comes their annual report on whom they moved and where. It turn out that Oregon is still a top state in terms of net in-migraton. Given that United Van Lines customers probably skew wealthier and more educated (and perhaps disproportionately are having their move paid for by an employer), this is probably a very good thing for the state.

Release by US Department of Justice,

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Collins Management Corporation, a forestry products company in Oregon, to resolve allegations that it unlawfully fired and later refused to rehire a lawful permanent resident in violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( INA ). According to the department’s findings, Collins insisted that a lawful permanent resident present an unexpired permanent resident card ( also known as a “green card” ) for Form I-9 purposes, even though the individual had already presented his driver’s license and unrestricted Social Security card to the employer. The department further found that the company fired the individual when he was unable to present an unexpired green card and refused to consider him for re-hire two months later because the company believed he did not possess proper documentation.

By Bill Conerly,
Conerly Consulting, Businomics

The Economist magazine has a terrific map showing for each state the country it comes closest to in terms of GDP.

Notes below:

Oregon Prepares to Add Big New Hurdle for Manufacturing Jobs – Highest in the Nation
– While most states are attempting to keep or attract manufacturing jobs, Oregon may be heading the opposite direction.
By John Ledger
Associated Oregon Industries

Oregon is the process of adopting the most stringent water quality standards in the nation; in some cases below natural background levels. The proposed levels are so low that many existing Oregon facilities’ ability to compete, expand or even continue to operate will become problematic even they are not adding any pollutants – just removing water for cooling purposes and returning it directly to the river.

The range of pollutant is exceedingly broad. Many are not directly emitted by industrial sources, simply the result of soil erosions or natural background that flows in with the intake water, although there are some important exceptions. Nevertheless, even if a facility adds no pollution to its wastewater stream, the fact that it takes in water that exceeds the standards for any of the listed pollutants means it will likely return those same pollutants back into the river and its effluent will be considered a toxics discharge. Hence, the facility will need a permit variance for each of those pollutants if it wishes to operate.

By U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

Last week, I had the good fortune to interview newly sworn in Speaker of the House John Boehner in his new office. The interview was for the U.S. Chamber’s monthly member magazine Free Enterprise and will be the cover story of our February issue.  Speaker Boehner was a great host and eagerly discussed many issues important to the Chamber’s members, such as the high cost-both in premiums and in jobs-of the new health care law, the unintended consequences of the financial regulatory reform bill, and the likelihood of tax reform this year. When asked, the Speaker even told me what he’d love to be doing if he wasn’t one of the most powerful people in politics. Below are some outtakes from the interview, which can be read in full at www.uschambermagazine.com.

Free Enterprise: Before you were elected to Congress, you owned a small business. How did that experience shape the way you govern?

John Boehner: When I was running my business [Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry], it was not just my own business; it was my customers’ and suppliers.’ Every day it was more government, more taxes, more regulation. That’s what eventually drove me to come here. I didn’t come here because I wanted to be a congressman. I came here because I wanted to do something. It really boils down to this–the more the government takes from the American people, the less they have to invest in themselves, their families, their communities, or their businesses. We all know the bigger the government gets, the smaller the people get.

Top 10 Tax Time Tips
By Internal Revenue Service

It’s that time of the year again. The income tax filing season has begun and important tax documents should be arriving in the mail. Even though your return is not due until April, getting an early start will make filing easier. Here are the Internal Revenue Service’s top 10 tips that will help your tax filing process run smoother than ever this year.

1. Start gathering your records – Round up any documents or forms you’ll need when filing your taxes: receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support income or deductions you’re claiming on your return.

2. Be on the lookout – W-2s and 1099s will be coming soon; you’ll need these to file your tax return.

3. Use Free File – Let Free File do the hard work for you with brand-name tax software or online fillable forms. It’s available exclusively at http://www.irs.gov. Everyone can find an option to prepare their tax return and e-file it for free. If you made $58,000 or less, you qualify for free tax software that is offered through a private-public partnership with manufacturers. If you made more or are comfortable preparing your own tax return, there’s Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic versions of IRS paper forms. Visit www.irs.gov/freefile to review your options.

Business News Note: Nissan’s electric vehicle 2011 campaign for the Leaf car is being limited to seven states (Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, and Hawaii) with later states to follow.  Portland General Electric caught Nissan executives completely by surprise by installing 100 charging stations to help welcome the new car.

José Pinomesa,

Electric vehicles are nothing new. They were invented sometime during the 1830s in Scotland and later produced on a bigger level by France and Great Britain. In 1895 America began their interest in electric vehicles with a handful of companies producing them. It did not take long for them to die off because by the 1920s America had many more miles of roadway which called for the need of longer range vehicles, oil was a lot more affordable, starter motors were invented so hand cranks were not needed and the mass production of the internal combustion engines by Henry Ford.

By Tim Duy,
Oregon Economic Forum
sponsor, KeyBank.

Attached is the University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators for November 2010. The release date is January 12, 2011. Special thanks to our sponsor, KeyBank.

The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators™ gained in November, rising 0.9 percent to 87.9 (1997=100). Highlights of the report include:

• Although indicators were generally positive overall, an increase in the weight distance tax collected – a measure of trucking activity – provided an additional boost to the UO Index. That increase, however, is likely overstated somewhat as it does not yet account for a recent increase in the weight distance tax rate. Accounting for that increase is currently a challenge as some carriers may have elected to shift the actual tax payments into 2011 to defer the immediate impact of the increase. The delayed response to the new tax regime will likely last through the first quarter of 2011, at which time the higher tax rates should be fully reflected in the data. At that point, data will be revised to account for the higher tax rate.

Oregon Supreme Court tosses single-digit ratio for punitive damages in employment case
By Lori Bauman,
Ater Wynne,
Oregon Law Firm,

On Thursday, a divided Oregon Supreme Court affirmed a jury award of punitive damages of $175,000 in a case in which compensatory damages were only $6,000. In Hamlin v. Hampton Lumber Mills, Inc., plaintiff was a former employee of defendant who was not rehired after recovering from a workplace injury. He claimed discrimination based on his filing of a workers’ compensation claim.

The Court of Appeals, in reviewing the verdict in 2008, had held that the punitive damages of 30 times compensatory damages was grossly excessive under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and stated that the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages in non-personal-injury cases should generally not exceed 4:1. In this week’s ruling, the Supreme Court disagreed and declined to apply the single-digit ratio, holding that where the compensatory award is small — $12,000 or less — and where defendant’s conduct is sufficienly reprehensible, an award in excess of a single-digit ratio is not grossly excessive.