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About The OSEA news. (Salem, Oregon) 1970-1981 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1978)
June 8,1978 Page 3 The OSEA News Housing law explained By BROMLEIGH LAMB Legal Research the landlord. Likewise, a tenant may not “confess judgment” in a rental agreement, that is, he may not give the landlord a right to a judgment against him without the matter being tried in court. For example, an admission of fault in advance. Likewise, the tenant may not agree to limit the landlord’s liability arising from the landlord’s wilful misconduct or negligance. To put «teeth into One of the most important pieces of consumer legislation to be enacted by the Oregon Legislature is the Residential Landlord Tenant Act of 1973. Since this legislation, together with subsequent amendments and additions including one in 1977 relating to mobile home parks, may affect many OSEA members, either as tenants or landlords, we will outline its provisions in a series of columns beginning in this issue of The OSEA News. Readers are warned, however, that space does not permit a comprehensive treatment of this law and its ap plication to all situations. Questions about par ticular situations should be addressed to your own attorney. This time we will look at some general provision of the Act. Future columns will deal with landlord responsibilities and tenant remedies and with the special provisions dealing with mobile home parks. While landlords and tenants are free to bargain for rental agreements, which may be either written or oral, the Act specifically prohibits certain provisions from being included in the rental agreement: A tenant, in a rental agreement, may not give upi any of his or her rights protected under the law, and such a waiver, if included in the agreement, is of no effect and cannot be enforced by Consumer Notes these requirements, the law provides that if the landlord deliberately includes such provisions in the rental agreement and attempts to enforce them, the tenant may recover from the landlord, in addition to his actual money damages, up to three months’ rent. Additionally, if a court finds a rental agreement or any of its provisions to be “unconscionable,” the court may refuse to enforce the agreement or it may modify it. “Unconscionability,” while difficult even for lawyers to define, refers to an agreement which is so outrageously unfair that the court will not enforce it. One way to look at it is to apply what law students call the “puke” test; if the terms of the agreement as are such as to make you want to throw up, they are unconscionable. The law also provides that the court may award the prevailing side (either the landlord or the tenant) reasonable attorney fees and costs, even though the two parties had previously agreed to some other arrangement. This applies in the case of any legal action with regard to a rental agreement or other action which occurs under the law. The state Supreme Court has said that, barring unusual circumstances, the. prevailing party normally would recover attorney fees. Another section of the law says that the aggrieved party who is seeking to recover money damages under the law has a duty to “mitigate” damages. This means that the party cannot sit idly by and let the amount of damages increase if it is within his power to prevent it. For example, if a tenant breaks a lease, the landlord has the duty to make a good faith effort to find another tenant so that the amount of the landlord’s damages (the rent he has lost for the remainder of the lease) will be minimized. Finally, with regard to the general provisions, the law imposes on all parties the obligation to act in good faith in carrying out their responsibilities. This means that the spirit, not just the letter of the law must be observed. NEXT: Landlord responsibilities and tenant remedies Highway grievances proliferate in Portland PORTLAND - Three group grievances involving members from the Highway Division have been filed in behalf of 21 members by OSEA Employe Representative Paula Chinn. A group of 10 employes is involved in a grievance because they are not getting the 60 consecutive hours off that they are entitled to between work weeks, according to Article 28, Section Seven of the Highway contract. Unfortunately, notes Chinn, Highway management has taken the small-minded threatening approach to the resolution of this grievance. For example, a toll bridge super visor in Astoria said in a May 25 memo to toll collectors, “remember, when we go to a steady schedule, you are on it .Now, . ioti have a choice! in Health Care Coverage for ever and ever and ever!” The “steady schedule” is this man’s only solution to a simple matter of decency, not to mention contractual rights, that will allow these workers an adequate interval of time off before they have to return to work.. A group of five employes has grieved because the agency contract has been violated with regard to.pay days. When the pay checks for this bridge crew was not ready at the end of their shift on the first day of the month, as required by Highway contract, they stayed on the job for six hours of overtime until the pay checks were prepared and delivered. Chinn has filed on their behalf for overtime and a meal allowance under the state central agreement. This grievance now is in the hands of George. Sanders, grievance specialist in the Personnel Division, because of the unsatisfactory response received from Gene Huntley of the Highway Division. Huntley which raised irrelevant issues, the grievance has. been A group of six has grieved under Article 28, Section 9a, of the Highway contract which says that the 40-hour work week must be contained within a span of 108 hours. (For example, 8 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Friday is 108 hours.) The employes in this grievance have had the beginning and ending of their work week separated by 112 appealed to the Executive Department and George San ders. Two other grievances filed by OSEA Employe Representative Roger Yockey on behalf of 12 Highway Division employes have at this point only reached the regional maintenance engineer. Five employes have grieved because of violations of the overtime article and seven have grieved because of violations of articles in both the agency and the central contract involving uniforms and protective clothing. These employes want gloves to protect their hands from the wire rope, cable, bridge structures and creosote-treated lumber they are required to handle on the job. Round trip flights non-stop from Seattle All wide-bodied DC-10 jets Good Anywhere in the World ! When medical emergencies occur away from home, outside the service area, THOSE expenses are PAID IN FULL ... anywhere in the world! You simply present your Capitol Health Care Member Card and the doctor or hospital should bill us. If you must pay directly ... send us a copy of the bill ... and we’ll reimburse you! PAID hours and 116 hours. The effect of this, in addition to it being a violation of the contract is that it cuts into the employes’ weekends. 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