Oregon Manufacturing Employers face new weekly restrictions on employee hours worked 

Under a recently passed Oregon law, certain employees “employed in” mills, factories, and manufacturing establishments are subject to maximum work hour provisions. The law took effect January 1, 2018 and limits the number of hours an employee may work to a maximum of 55 per workweek, unless the employee requests or consents in writing to work up to 60 hours in one workweek. 

Covered employers must also provide employees with 10 hours of rest between the end of one shift of eight hours or more and the start of another shifts, unless the additional hours are due to the disruptions in business operations caused by a power outage, major equipment breakdown, severe weather or similar emergency outside the employer's control.

Exemptions and Exceptions

• The maximum hours restrictions and daily overtime requirements do not apply to employees of sawmills, planing mills, shingle mills, and logging camps unless and until similar laws have been enacted in California, Washington, and Idaho.
• The following individuals are specifically exempted from the new law’s provisions:
• Security guards
• Boiler operator
• Employees who, as one of their regular duties, are engaged in the transportation of other employees to and from work
• Employees whose primary duty is that of making necessary repairs. This includes employees conducting maintenance on buildings, equipment or machinery,
• Employees whose primary duty is that of supervising and directing work. This includes supervisors, managers, and persons who are temporarily acting in these capacities in the absence of supervisory employees.
• Employees whose primary duty is the loading and removal of finished forest products
• Employees engaged in emergency work in which life or property is in imminent danger.

• (Note:  When the normal production process is interrupted by a breakdown of machinery or unexpected absences of employees, life and property are not normally threatened with harm or destruction. For this reason, the exemption is not applicable to normal routine operational occurrences.)

• A valid workplace collective bargaining agreement may set aside the provisions of the new law if the employee is a party to the collective bargaining agreement, the agreement is in effect at the work site, the agreement contains a limitation on the employees required hours of work, and if the agreement contains a provision for the payment of overtime hours of work.

The law provides to qualifying employers an undue hardship period exemption from the restrictions on the maximum workweek hours for up to 21 weeks if the employer, in the ordinary course of the employer’s business, processes perishable products. An undue hardship period is defined as, the period of time during which perishable products must be processes after harvesting, slaughter, or catch. Employers claiming an undue hardship exemption must file a notice (WH-262) with the Bureau of Labor and Industries. When an undue hardship exists, an employee may consent in writing to work up to 84 hours per workweek for four workweeks and up to 80 hours per workweek for any remaining workweeks in the undue hardship period. A separate consent form (WH-263) is to be used for this purpose.

Resources

Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has developed sample notice and forms. Click here for a sample "Notice of Undue Hardship Period for Manufacturers of Perishable Products" letter to BOLI.

UEA has also developed a consent form for employees desiring to work beyond 55 hours and an undue hardship BOLI notice and consent form.

• Click here to download the Employee Written Consent Work More than 55 Hours per Workweek template.
•  Click here to download the Employee Written Consent for Undue Hardship template.