Business Matters
Oregon Minimum Wage
Has Increased Again
As usual, Commissioner Stephenson
announced new minimum wage rates back
in April of 2023. As of July 1st, 2023,
Oregon minimum wage is $14.20 per hour
(standard minimum wage rate).
October 2023
Other wage rates for special locations in
Oregon have also increased as follows:
Portland Metro Minimum Wage: $15.45
per hour
Non-Urban Minimum Wage: $13.20
per hour
Under Oregon law, Oregon minimum
wage will update each year, and each year
such update will be calculated and an-
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Breaking Down the OFLA & Paid Leave Oregon
With Paid Leave Oregon benefits beginning
on September 3, 2023, the Oregon Employ-
ment Department and the Oregon Bureau of
Labor & Industries have published a fact sheet
to help navigate questions.
Set to answer common questions the fact
sheet will cover the interaction between leave
taken under Paid Leave Oregon and leave
taken under the Oregon Family Leave Act
(“OFLA”). Although Senate Bill 999, which
amended both Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA,
attempted to bring these two leave laws into
alignment, there is still tension between the
two laws.
Generally, employees are eligible to take
16 (or up to 18 weeks) of total leave—includ-
ing both unpaid OFLA leave and paid leave
taken under Paid Leave Oregon, during a Paid
Leave Oregon benefit year. Additionally, if an
employee’s reason for leave qualifies under
both Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA, the leave
must be taken concurrently. However, employ-
ers may not require that their employees apply
for Paid Leave Oregon benefits.
In a nutshell, this means that OFLA leave
taken prior to an employee beginning their Paid
Leave Oregon benefit year will not reduce the
amount of leave under Paid Leave Oregon
they may be eligible to take. Similarly, OFLA
leave taken before September 3, 2023, will not
reduce the amount of leave under Paid Leave
Oregon available.
However, assuming that the employer’s
Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA benefit years
are aligned, this potential for “stacking” is
eliminated if an employee chooses to apply
for and take Paid Leave Oregon first or concur-
rently with OFLA. But if an employee’s reason
for leave qualifies under both Paid Leave Or-
egon and OFLA, and the employee decides not
to apply for Paid Leave Oregon benefits at the
outset, then that employee is entitled to exhaust
their OFLA leave (for up to 36 weeks of pro-
tected leave) and subsequently apply for Paid
Leave Oregon (for up to 14 weeks of protected
leave).
Now, if an employee’s reason for leave
qualifies under both Paid Leave Oregon and
OFLA, but the employee does decide to apply
for Paid Leave Oregon benefits at the outset,
then that employee will concurrently exhaust
their Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA leave and
may take up to a maximum of 14 weeks of paid
leave under Paid Leave Oregon and up to an
additional four weeks of unpaid OFLA leave
during the same benefit year.
AOn top of that, the fact sheet notes that,
while OFLA permits an employer to require an
employee to take parental leave all at once, Paid
Leave Oregon allows parental leave to be taken
intermittently. Accordingly, employers must
allow employees using Paid Leave Oregon to
take parental leave intermittently so long as
they take time off in full day increments.
Dollar General in Yoncalla
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their urban stores, often within blocks of each
other, Dollar general has no problem opening
in the smallest or sparsest of counties. In rural
parts of the country, as many as nearly half of
Dollar General’s stores are located in counties
with less than 100 people per square mile. Due
to the low overhead of the stores, it allows them
to open up where no one else can. The stores
sell little-to-no produce and hire few workers.
But dollar stores are also seeing some
pushback from residents and neighbors nearby.
At least 75 communities have rejected dollar
stores since 2019. Advocacy groups believe
the chains hurt communities in several ways,
including pushing out grocers, creating
dangerous workplaces with thin staff and
exacerbating food deserts. Forcing out mom-
and-pop stores. Providing fewer jobs while
paying less. Harming public health. These are
just a few problems attributed to dollar stores.
According to critics, stripping communities
of wealth while offering little-to-no fresh
food and giving back dangerous, low-paying
jobs is the legacy that accompanies these
establishments.
In separate statements, Dollar General and
Family Dollar said their stores are compliments
to grocers. Dollar General added, these types of
bans only hurt customers who can rely on these
stores to stretch budgets already squeezed by
inflation.
It’s true that plenty of shoppers love dollar
store brands. And when it comes to the public
health and economic consequences of the
chains, some researchers say there isn’t enough
evidence yet to justify the villain label. Some
believe the stores could even benefit rural
shoppers who have few nearby alternatives for
buying necessities.
So why does the dollar store expansion
seem to wear so heavily on the grocery
store when there are plenty of worries for
independent grocery stores Trouble finding
workers and fewer customers in shrinking
small towns is enough of a problem.
In rural Kansas, grocery store owners
labeled the dollar stores as the top challenge
alongside competition from supermarkets in a
2021 survey. Some grocers said a dollar store
opening nearby could cause a 20-to-30% drop
in sales, a catastrophic decline when profit
margins can be as little as 1-to-2%.
The risk of dollar chains closing grocers
is about more than communities losing another
business, according to Erica Blair, program
manager for Kansas State University’s Rural
Grocery Initiative, which conducted the survey.
Grocers often act as town anchors and gathering
spots. Owners invest in the community, and
money spent at independent grocers circulates
back through the local economy. There’s also
the fresh produce that’s rare-to-nonexistent in
many dollar stores. In other words, a dollar
store is no substitute for a grocer.
Dollar stores arent winning the free
market game over grocers. Instead they take
unfair advantage of using their market size to
negotiate better deals than small businesses
receive. That Kansas Report says they often
provide “cheater” sizes exclusively to dollar
stores. These products look the same as the
ones sold by grocers, just slightly smaller. For
example, a Snickers at a dollar store could
weigh two ounces less than those sold at a
grocery store. While it might be priced cheaper
at the dollar store, it might actually be more
expensive per ounce.
Beyond what the stores sell inside, dollar
store brands also provide fewer jobs and tax
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