BOLI pulls bait-and-switch with minimum wage law

Unfortunately, BOLI — led by elected Commissioner Brad Avakian — is pulling a bait-and-switch on Oregonians as they figure out exactly how to track and enforce three different minimum wages across the state.

When the legislature passed SB 1532, setting the minimum wage at $14.75 for Portland, $13.50 for suburbs and $12.50 for rural communities, we made it clear that wages would be determined by the location of the employer, not the employee. We decided on “employer is located” because otherwise businesses would be required to track their employees hour-by-hour, costing small businesses even more money and possibly violating employee privacy.

I opposed setting three different minimum wages for Oregon workers, but I trusted that BOLI would carry out the Legislature’s very specific instructions to determine an employees’ hourly rate based on where their employer is based.

The definition of “employer is located” is common sense: it’s the place where an employee normally reports to work, not where they happen to do a day of landscaping or a half day on a road service call. Employers and employees alike need stability and predictability. Requiring GPS-like tracking of an employee’s location to determine how much they get paid is costly for small business owners and unpredictable for Oregon workers.

An “employer is located” in the place where an employee is based and normally reports to work, not where they happen to do a day of landscaping or a half day on a road service call.

This is also consistent with supporters’ expressly stated policy goals of simplicity and predictability, both for employers and employees.

But BOLI doesn’t seem to care. Commissioner Avakian is going in a direction that was put off limits by sponsors and proponents of the bill, demonstrating he has no respect for the rule of law, only the “Rule of Avakian”.

This is just one more example of BOLI’s excessive and harmful reach into policymaking. BOLI’s proposed minimum wage rules must be fixed, and I have asked Commissioner Avakian to do so immediately. If this is another episode of BOLI overstepping its authority to pay back special interests and campaign donors, Oregon small businesses and workers will be the true casualty.

It’s time our state government did everything possible to help small businesses and the thousands of Oregonians they employ succeed, starting with fixing BOLI’s new rules for the minimum wage.

Oregonians should reject any politician that refuses to acknowledge the “checks and balances” of a Democracy.

— Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, represents part of Wasco County and is the senior member of the Oregon State Senate.