NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Power pushes for laws to help pregnant, nursing women
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
Most people who testify at the
Capitol bring slide presentations,
graphs or official letterhead to
make their point.
State Rep. Karin Power, D-Mil-
waukie, brought a breast pump as
she spoke in support of her propos-
als to give women more latitude to
be working mothers.
Nursing mothers use the device,
which resembles a handheld fan
but with a suction cup where the
blades would be, to pump and
store breast milk when they can’t
directly feed their babies.
Power wanted to show her col-
leagues why nursing moms should
get dedicated breaks during the
work day to pump.
The machine takes time to set
up and requires thorough clean-
ing to prevent infections, Power
explained to the House Committee
on Business and Labor on Monday.
“I just wanted to quickly illus-
trate, this is not a fun device to
use,” she told lawmakers. “Most of
my friends are thoroughly excited
to be done with it.”
Power, an attorney at the Fresh-
water Trust, was updating the orga-
nization’s employment handbook
last year when she discovered gaps
between state and federal laws
covering the rights of workers who
are pregnant or nursing.
Now Power wants to shore up
state employment protections for
pregnant women and new moms.
Power, whose son is 2 years old,
Portland Tribune Photo/Jaime Valdez
Rep. Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, is sponsoring bills that would support
nursing and pregnant women in the workplace.
brings firsthand experience to her
cause. She pumped during her first
legislative session in 2017 — that’s
why her office at the Capitol has
curtains.
Under current law, Oregon
workers at firms with 25 or more
employees are allowed one half-
hour break every four hours.
Power’s bill — HB 2593 —
would match the state with federal
law, which doesn’t limit pump-
ing breaks. It would also require
all employers, regardless of size,
to provide breaks for pumping
milk. Employers wouldn’t have to
pay workers during those breaks
beyond the time an employer
is required to provide paid rest
periods.
Waiting too long between
pumping sessions or feedings can
be painful and lead to serious
infections, Power said. And she
said many women can work while
pumping — whether it’s working
on a legal brief or driving a truck.
Through a separate bill, HB
2341, Power also wants the state
to require more employers to pro-
vide “reasonable accommodation”
to pregnant workers.
That could mean a chair for a
cashier who usually must stand, or
light duty for a worker who can’t
lift heavy items, or more frequent
breaks to use the bathroom.
Right now, Oregon salaried
workers at firms with fewer than
25 employees don’t have a legal
right to such accommodations.
“I can go ahead ask my
employer for that without things
going horribly south and be wor-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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MONDAY
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shower; chilly
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
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HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
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OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
through 3 p.m. yest.
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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Lewiston
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53/45
Astoria
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Pullman
Yakima 40/30
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48/34
Portland
Hermiston
53/44
The Dalles 44/32
Salem
Corvallis
52/42
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
45/34
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
53/43
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Ontario
45/26
Caldwell
Burns
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64° (1967) -19° (1950)
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Albany
54/43
Measles outbreak grows to 40
VANCOUVER, Wash.
(AP) — Authorities say
there are now 40 confirmed
cases of measles in a Pacific
Northwest outbreak.
Public
health
offi-
cials said Wednesday that
38 cases are in southwest
Washington state, one is
outside Portland, and one is
in Seattle.
Two of the confirmed
patients from southwest
Washington traveled to
Hawaii and were quaran-
tined there and a third per-
son was contagious while on
a trip to Bend.
Authorities believe no
one was exposed to the mea-
sles in Hawaii.
Clark County Public
Health says there are now 13
additional suspected cases.
Of the confirmed cases,
most patients are under age
10. All but a handful were
not immunized against the
disease.
Washington Gov. Jay
Inslee last week declared a
state of emergency due to
the outbreak.
0.00"
1.53"
1.24"
1.53"
1.10"
1.24"
Today
Medford
SALEM (AP) — A
Salem man has been sen-
tenced to 15 months in
prison after pleading guilty
to his role in scamming
more than $175,000 from
the Oregon Department of
Human Services by pre-
tending to be disabled.
The Statesman Journal
reports that Eddie Wag-
Fri.
NE 3-6
NNE 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
58/42
Man pretending to be severely disabled
goes to prison in DHS scam
WINDS (in mph)
46/28
42/23
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2.07"
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1.35"
through 3 p.m. yest.
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TEMP.
Pendleton 45/30
55/44
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
46/34
47/38
32°
29°
43°
28°
65° (1971) -15° (1950)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
53/41
Aberdeen
37/29
35/30
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
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Davis, R-Albany, who said Pow-
er’s testimony on Monday brought
back memories of her pregnancy
in 2007. “And I think sometimes
an accommodation to one person
looks different than an accom-
modation to another person. So
I’ll definitely work through that
with you and would love to be
able to come to an understanding
together.”
Amanda Dalton, a lobbyist with
the Northwest Grocery Associa-
tion, testified that her organiza-
tion was concerned that the pro-
posals could conflict with recent
state laws that require employers
to notify employees of their sched-
ules in advance.
“We do have some concerns
with our employers being required
to provide scheduling accommo-
dations and kind of putting us in
a position where we’re complying
with both laws, or being forced to
violate one law, or being forced to
pay penalty pay as we move sched-
ules around,” Dalton said.
Power said a clearer set of
accommodations for pregnant
workers could have long-term
implications,
enabling
more
women to work through their
child-rearing years and helping
kids reap the benefits of healthy
pregnancies and breastfeeding.
“We don’t get there if women
don’t feel supported in the work
place as equally as men,” Power
said. “The default in society, for a
lot of people, that this is a burden
on employers rather than a benefit
to society as a whole.”
PENDLETON
TEMP.
Seattle
ried about losing my job,” Power
said of her proposal.
Under Power’s bill, employers
who would face “undue hardship”
to accommodate pregnant workers
wouldn’t have to comply.
Courts have defined what it
means for an employer to face an
undue hardship and what accom-
modations are considered reason-
able under law, Power said.
State lawmakers are increas-
ingly trying to address obstacles
that pregnant women and new par-
ents face in the workplace. The
Legislature is also considering
a statewide paid leave policy for
caregivers.
Last June, The New York Times
brought national attention to the
issue when it published a sweeping
investigation finding that discrim-
ination against pregnant women
was widespread in the nation’s
largest companies.
Twenty-three states and the
District of Columbia have laws
that go beyond the protections of
the federal Pregnancy Discrimina-
tion Act of 1978.
Several members of the House
Business and Labor Commit-
tee, where Power testified Mon-
day, said they wanted to support
working mothers, but expressed
concerns about the impact on
employers.
“I’m in this in-between of
understanding the hardships of
being very pregnant, and also
understanding the hardships of
what that accommodation looks
like,” said Rep. Shelly Boshart
NE 3-6
S 6-12
ner, 53, admitted to work-
ing with Dustin Hensley,
23, of Salem, on a scheme
to defraud the Medicaid
program, which is meant
to serve Oregon’s most vul-
nerable residents.
According to court
records, Wagner pretended
to be severely disabled
and claimed to DHS that
he needed round-the-clock
care paid for by Medicaid.
Hensley, who claimed
to provide that care, had
pleaded guilty to several
counts of making a false
claim and several counts
of first-degree aggravated
theft in October, and was
sentenced to one year and
one day in prison.
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