By National Retail Federation, Holiday spending is expected to be healthy even with recent inflationary challenges, as the National Retail Federation today forecast that holiday retail sales during November and December will grow between 6% and 8% over 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. Last year’s holiday sales […]

By Amy Angel & Stacie Damazo Barran Law, November 8, 2022 — This week, the Oregon Employment Department (“OED”) announced the adoption of eight permanent rules and one rule amendment that relate to benefits received under Paid Leave Oregon. As a reminder, Paid Leave Oregon is a family, medical, and […]

By Oregon Business and Industry In just a few short years, Oregon’s state business tax burden has increased nearly 45%, according to a newly released report by national accounting firm Ernst & Young. Employers in Portland face an even heavier burden, thanks to a 32% increase in local taxes since […]

By Oregon Attorney General, Press Release Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced the national Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force has filed enforcement actions against two voice service providers over their involvement in illegal robocalls. “Illegal robocalls have plagued Oregonians for years, and we are really pleased to be using the full […]

NLRB Modifies Standards for Mail-Ballot Union Elections, Increasing Likelihood of In-Person Voting By Nick Ball Barran Liebman Law, 11/3/22: The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a series of decisions applying an updated standard for determining whether mail-ballot union elections were appropriate. In its recent Starbucks Corporation decision, the NLRB […]

By NFIB, According to NFIB’s monthly jobs report, small business owners continue to struggle with labor issues as 23% of owners report labor quality as their top business problem, second to inflation. Ten percent of owners report labor cost as their top business problem, a historically high reading. “The labor […]

NLRB General Counsel Proposes Sweeping Changes Impacting Employer Use of Technology to Manage and/or Monitor Employees By Paige Alli, Richard J. Alli, Jr. & John M. Stellwagen Bullard Law, In sweeping new proposals, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, announced her intention to limit employers in […]

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation Gov. Gavin Newsom wants California growers to provide pot legally throughout the nation, and a bill he recently signed would let the state create interstate cannabis sales agreements if the California attorney general doesn’t see significant risk in doing so, according to the Portland […]

By Cascade Policy Institute, Last week, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and his council colleagues introduced five resolutions to deal with the city’s housing and homelessness crises. As in a natural disaster, thousands are shelterless, lawlessness is rife, and public health is in danger. But, this is a human-caused disaster caused […]

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation, Competition for qualified workers and big bonuses designed to entice them to jobs put Portland at the top of the average weekly earnings for 30 metro areas, according to the Portland Business Journal’s Playbook.   Although average salary growth slowed between August 2021 and […]