Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2021)
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021 | 3A DMV grace period on renewals ends on Dec. 31 Virginia Barreda Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK If you’ve got an expired Oregon license or vehicle registration, it’s time to consider booking an Oregon Driver & Motor Vehicle appointment – fast. The grace period to renew already-expired licenses and registrations is coming to an end Dec. 31. In 2020, the DMV closed its 60 offices across Ore- gon amid the pandemic, prompting a huge backlog, DMV spokesperson David House said. When the of- fices reopened, the backlog was exacerbated by staff shortages and restrictions such as capacity limits and appointment-only services. To help alleviate the pileup of requests and clogged phone lines, multiple vehicle-related moratoriums were put in place throughout the year. One rolling moratorium provides a grace period on citations for expired driver licenses, permits, vehicle registration and disabled parking placards. The law only applies to expiration dates of six months or less and will expire Dec. 31, according to the DMV website. Since reopening, the DMV has increased its avail- able appointments and is also now accepting walk-ins. Though there are no capacity limits, customers are re- quired to wear masks in the offices and during driving tests. You can check the wait estimates here. Save yourself a trip to the DMV Many services are now available online, so agency officials say it’s worth checking the DMV website be- fore making the trip. If you have to go in person, make an appointment through dmv2u.oregon.gov/eServic- es/_/, or just show up. Locations: South Salem DMV: 4825 Commercial Street SE, Suite 120; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. North Salem DMV: 955 Lancaster Drive NE; 8 a.m. The Oregon Driver & Motor Vehicle Services office on Commercial Street SE. Staff shortages during the pandemic have caused long wait times for documents from the agency. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Virginia Barreda is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesman- journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2. Farmworkers say state is illegally excluding them from overtime pay pez said. “It doesn’t change the fact that for 83 years, the agriculture industry has profited from the exclusion of farmworkers from over- time pay.” Dora Totoian covers agricultural workers through Report for Amer- Dora Totoian Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Anita Santiago has been a farmworker for 15 years, working long hours in the fields with- out the overtime pay most hourly workers in the U.S. enjoy. There are plenty of days she anticipated having to work for eight hours, only for her su- pervisor to demand the workers finish the field that day regardless of how long it took. The long days and lack of overtime pay neg- atively affect her physi- cal and mental health, increase her childcare costs and impact her children’s wellbeing, Santiago’s lawyers wrote in a petition filed Tues- day with the Oregon Court of Appeals. Santiago, farmworker Javier Ceja and local non-profit Mano a Mano have petitioned the court to review Oregon’s rules excluding farmworkers from overtime pay and declare them unlawful. The petitioners argue two of the Bureau of La- bor and Industries’ ad- ministrative rules “arbi- trarily deny overtime to agricultural workers,” claim the agency lacks the legal authority to ex- clude workers from over- time pay, and contend the agency adopted the rules without considera- tion for farmworkers’ health and safety. “I hope that the court agrees with me and stops treating farmworkers as a separate group that does not have a right to overtime pay,” Santiago said in a statement from the Oregon Law Center. Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle said in an emailed statement Wednesday she has al- ways supported farm- worker overtime. She said the bureau was only recently made aware it had more authority in es- tablishing farmworker overtime, and it has since been collaborating with workers and em- ployers to change the rules. She believes the pet- ition will postpone that work, she said. “Unfortunately, this lawsuit will halt that work and will delay our ability to get farmwork- ers their overtime wages. The legal filing makes it so that we are precluded from communication with stakeholders and now all communications must be handled through the Department of Jus- tice,” Hoyle said. State and federal laws An exemption for ag- riculture in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows farmers to not pay agricultural workers time-and-a-half for hours they work past 40 hours a week. Six states, including California and Washington, have their own overtime laws that ica, a program that aims to support local journal- ism and democracy by reporting on under-cov- ered issues and commu- nities. You can reach her at dtotoian@statesman- journal.com Affected by the Oregon wildfires? Find resources to help you recover. A worker harvests grapes near Salem in 2020. Gov. Kate Brown directed OSHA on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 to expand requirements for employers to provide shade, rest time and cool water for workers during high and extreme heat events. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE require paying some form of overtime to agri- cultural workers. PCUN, Oregon’s farm- worker union, advocated for farmworker overtime in the last legislative ses- sion and plans to push for a similar bill in Febru- ary’s short session. According to the legal petition, Oregon law used to list an exception for farmworkers when it came to the Bureau of Labor and Industries’ authority to make over- time rules, but 2017’s House Bill 3458 related to overtime in manufac- turing removed that ex- ception, and the pet- itioners argue the agen- cy’s current rules rely on that outdated law. The petition filed by the Oregon Law Center and Legal Aid Services of Oregon also ties the is- sue of overtime pay for farmworkers to their health and safety and ar- gues the state agency has never evaluated whether overtime pay is necessary to farmwork- ers’ health and wellbe- ing. A group of 10 agricul- tural organizations, in- cluding the Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Associa- tion of Nurseries and Oregon Wine Council said it planned to engage in the lawsuit, calling the petition an “appalling at- tempt” to go around the legislative process and arguing the 2017 law did not intend to expand overtime pay to farm- workers. The groups also said the petition undermines discussions a legislative workgroup of industry associations and worker advocates have recently started. In Washington, the state Supreme Court ruled in Nov. 2020 that dairy workers are enti- tled to overtime pay. The court majority said the Legislature had no rea- sonable basis to exclude farmworkers from over- time protections, saying agricultural work is dan- gerous and exposes workers to risks from physical strain, pesti- cides and disease, and the overtime exemption has racist origins. Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill crafted from the ruling applying to all Washington farmwork- ers in May 2021. Impact to mostly Latino workers Farmworkers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the U.S.: Their average yearly earnings are between $20,000 and $24,999, according to the National Agricul- tural Workers Survey. While the Fair Labor Standards Act is often considered a victory of the New Deal era, guar- anteeing protections such as the minimum wage and the standard workweek, the law ex- cluded farmworkers and domestic workers. Scholars have described the exclusion of these two groups of workers as a “race-neu- tral” way to preserve rac- ist policies and prac- tices. Most farmworkers in that era were Black, and this exemption brought on board the southern Democrats in Congress needed to pass the New Deal. Today, 77% of farm- workers are Hispanic, according to the Nation- al Agricultural Workers Survey. The petition notes Oregon’s estimat- ed 86,000 farmworkers are mostly Latino and have experienced hous- ing discrimination, ha- rassment by law en- forcement and been sub- jected to violence and discrimination through- out the state. In Oregon, agriculture makes up 13% of the state’s gross product and results in $5.01 billion in agricultural production, and $2.57 billion in agri- cultural exports, accord- ing to a report from the Oregon state Board of Agriculture. Parallel legislative efforts The farmworker over- time bill Oregon Rep. An- drea Salinas, D-Lake Os- wego, introduced last session included a last- minute amendment cre- ating a three-year, $100 million transition fund using state general fund revenue to cover 80% of farmers’ overtime costs. The Oregon Farm Bu- reau has said paying farmworkers overtime would likely prompt farmers to look toward mechanization and/or reduce workers’ hours to avoid exceeding 40 hours per week. A Farm Bureau survey from ear- lier this year showed that most respondents said their employees worked between 55 - 70 hours per week during the peak season. A legislative work- group is continuing ne- gotiations on the bill, with representatives from PCUN and the Ore- gon Farm Bureau recent- ly presenting before the Oregon Senate labor and business committee. Reyna Lopez, execu- tive director of PCUN, said Wednesday the union applauds the law- suit, although it was not involved in the petition and does not plan to join it. PCUN remains fo- cused on its legislative efforts for farmworker overtime, she said. “No matter what hap- pens with that lawsuit, we want to push for pol- icy change in the legisla- tive short session,” Lo- Call today 1-833-669-0554 Open 24/7, every day. Public Notices PUBLIC POLICY NOTICES Public Notices are published by the Statesman Journal and available online at w w w .S ta te s m a n J o u r n a l.c o m . The Statesman Journal lobby is open Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach them by phone at 503-399-6789. In order to receive a quote for a public notice you must e-mail your copy to SJLegals@StatesmanJournal.com , and our Legal Clerk will return a proposal with cost, publication date(s), and a preview of the ad. LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE DEADLINES All Legals Deadline @ 1:00 p.m. on all days listed below: ***All Deadlines are subject to change when there is a Holiday. The Silverton Appeal Tribune is a one day a week (Wednesday) only publication • Wednesday publication deadlines the Wednesday prior LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE RATES Silverton Appeal Tribune: • Wednesdays only - $12.15/per inch/per time • Online Fee - $21.00 per time • Affidavit Fee - $10.00 per Affidavit requested LOCAL ADVISORS Salem Area Caitlin Davis CFP® Chip Hutchings ,.-32.+45,10/4* Member SIPC FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-585-1464 Lancaster | 503-585-4689 Jeff Davis Tim Sparks FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR Mission | 503-363-0445 Commercial | 503-370-6159 Garry Falor CFP® Tyson Wooters FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-588-5426 South | 503-362-5439 Keizer Area Mario Montiel FINANCIAL ADVISOR Keizer | 503-393-8166 Surrounding Area Bridgette Justis Tim Yount FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR Sublimity | 503-769-3180 Silverton | 503-873-2454 Kelly Denney FINANCIAL ADVISOR Dallas | 503-623-2146 OR-GCI0555203-01
