BY Oregon Employment Department, January 2022 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties In January 2022, 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties experienced over-the-month decreases in their unemployment rates. Five counties experienced a 0.2 percentage point decrease or more over the month including Clatsop, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, and Jefferson counties. Grant County […]

By Oregon U.S. Attorney, Press Release Portland Man Faces Federal Charges for Stealing Dozens of Firearms from Local Pawn Shop PORTLAND, Ore.—A Portland man faces federal charges after he and several accomplices used a sledgehammer to break into a local pawn shop and steal forty-seven firearms. Kory Dean Boyd, 38, […]

  By Heather J. Van Meter & Christine M. Zinter Bullard Law Firm Many large companies have announced they are divesting from Russia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The moves impact many aspects of Russia’s economy, from energy to news, furniture to clothing. BP and Shell have announced they […]

By NFIB, Small businesses continued to struggle to increase their workforce in February, with 22% of owners reporting that labor quality was their top business problem, according to NFIB’s monthly jobs report. Eleven percent of owners cited labor costs as their top business problem, unchanged from January. Reports of labor […]

By US Senator Ron Wyden Press Release, In an effort to combat a sharp rise in oil prices amid Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today urged President Biden to stabilize gas prices and help working families by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, The Oregon Senate voted to ban last-minute mandatory overtime for bakery and tortilla plant workers in a 24-2 bipartisan vote anda 36 to 21 party-line vote in the House. Senate Bill 1513 affects 294 employers in Oregon and their 5,629 workers, many of whom say […]

Be Careful When Disciplining Employees for Complaining About Work on Social Media! By Natalie Pattison Barran Law Private sector employers take note: an employee’s social media post complaining about work may be entitled to protections under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This is true regardless of whether the private […]

By NFIB, The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, issued the following statement on behalf of Courtney Titus Brooks, Senior Manager of Federal Government Relations, in response to the introduction of the Employee Retention Tax Credit Reinstatement Act in the U.S. Senate: “The […]

February 22, 2022 By Heather J. Van Meter Bullard Law The easing of COVID restrictions around the country amid discussion of “living with COVID” will require employers to be more vigilant in many ways while simultaneously attempting to return to normal or a new normal. Some employers need workers back […]

By Portland Business Alliance, Portland Business Alliance releases its annual State of the Economy report This annual update on the state of our region’s economy, led by the Alliance in partnership with ECONorthwest and presented by Bank of America, marks yet again an unprecedented moment. For more information, please contact: […]