By Jessica D. Osborne Bullard Law, NW Law Firm The Department of Labor ( DOL) recently finalized changes to its overtime exemption thresholds for salaried employees, including an increase in the annual salary cut-off from $23,660 to $35,568. The changes are expected to take effect on January 1, 2020. Background […]

Oregon US Senator Ron Wyden, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., questioned whether nonprofit groups, free speech and internet users would be harmed selling control of .ORG domains to a private equity firm, in a letter sent today. Currently, […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley released the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s “Safe Importation Action Plan” and the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which would allow for the importation of certain prescription […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in November, the lowest on comparable records dating back to 1976. The October unemployment rate was 4.0 percent, as revised from the originally reported figure of 4.1 percent. Oregon’s November rate was slightly above the U.S. rate of 3.5 […]

NFIB, NFIB, the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, issued the following statement on behalf of Acting President Brad Close marking two years since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law: “Since the Small Business Deduction’s inclusion in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, America’s small business […]

Be Sure Not to Overwork Young Employees By Wilson Jarrell Barran Liebman LLP, NW Law firm Now that the turkey population can take a deep sigh of relief, and even Portland has earned its first (admittedly extremely light) dusting of snow, it can only mean one thing: the holiday season […]

By Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s population grew by more than 41,000 residents last year, according to Portland State University’s Population Research Center. That may sound like a boom and lead some to conclude the state is doing great: “Look! People are still flocking to Oregon.” But, in fact, the state’s […]

US Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley released the following statement after Congress included a permanent repeal of three major health taxes – the so-called “Cadillac Tax,” the Health Insurance Tax (HIT), and the Medical Device Tax (MDT) in the […]

Cascade Employers Association, Does your workplace see empathy and sensitivity as a strength or a weakness? Our experience is that workplaces send clear messages, intentionally or unintentionally, about the importance of developing these skills. Whatever your employee handbook says, there are day-to-day clues on the value your work culture places […]

By Josh Lehner, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis As our office developed our latest forecast, we dug into Oregon’s slower employment growth. As discussed previously, we highlighted three main channels in which the slowdown could materialize: worsening current economic conditions, uncertainty over future growth, and tight labor markets. We tried […]