News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
A9
Wage rules require employers to track workers
“
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Proposed rules for
Oregon’s new three-tiered, regional
minimum wage law would require
employers to pay employees based
on where the employee actually
works.
Starting in 2017, employers will
have to track not only the hours
their employees work but also the
location, under the draft rules. Em-
ployees who work for more than
four hours per week in another re-
gion would earn that region’s wage
for those hours.
“Let’s say they just did a brief
meeting or a short job that took less
than four hours, they would get the
same pay. If they do more than four
hours, say they do half of the week
in one region and half of the week
in another region, then they would
have to pay two separate rates,” said
Paloma Sparks, legislative director
The worker advocates would like the threshold to be a lot lower, like
one hour; employer advocates would like it to be where the employer
is located. There is not a lot of meeting in the middle.”
Paloma Sparks
Legislative director for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries
for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and
Industries.
The agency will hold a public
hearing at 2 p.m. April 25 at the
Portland State Ofice Building,
Room 1B, 800 N.E. Oregon St. The
agency also will accept comments
until May 22. The agency expects
to inalize the rules by June.
The irst-of-its-kind law takes ef-
fect July 1, bumping up the state’s
minimum wage from $9.25 to $9.75
statewide. In 2017, wage increases
will diverge according to region. By
2022, wages will reach $14.75 in the
Portland area, $12.50 in most rural
and coastal counties and $13.50 in
the rest of the state.
That’s when the proposed rules
could become complicated for some
employers.
For example, an employee who
works in Salem for 35 hours and in
Portland for ive hours per week in
2017 would earn $10.25 per hour
for the time in Salem and $11.25 per
hour for the time in Portland.
The new law, passed in February,
directed the labor bureau to make the
rules relating to employer location.
Determining how to pay employ-
ees who work in different locations
is the main issue the agency is trying
to resolve with the rules, Sparks said.
An advisory committee has
helped to shape the rules. There is
little agreement about how the re-
gional wage should be determined,
Sparks said.
“The worker advocates would
like the threshold to be a lot lower,
like one hour; employer advocates
would like it to be where the em-
ployer is located. There is not a lot
of meeting in the middle,” Sparks
said.
Committee members are the
NW Grocery Associations, Oregon
Restaurant and Lodging Associa-
tion, Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon
Association of Nurseries, Associa-
tion of Oregon Industries, Oregon
Business Association, PCUN, AFL-
CIO, Family Forward, SEIU, CAU-
SA and Oregon Center for Public
Policy. Representatives from the
ofices of Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland, and Rep. Paul Holvey,
D-Eugene, serve on the committee.
Under the law, the minimum
gradually climbs to $14.75 in 2022
in the Portland urban growth bound-
ary, which includes parts of Mult-
nomah, Washington and Clackamas
counties. It will rise to $13.50 in
Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, De-
schutes, Hood River, Jackson, Jose-
phine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion,
Polk, Tillamook, Wasco and Yam-
hill counties, and parts of Mult-
nomah, Clackamas and Washington
counties outside Portland’s urban
growth boundary.
In rural areas, the wage increas-
es to $12.50. Those areas include
Malheur, Lake, Harney, Wheeler,
Sherman, Gilliam, Wallowa, Grant,
Jefferson, Baker, Union, Crook,
Klamath, Douglas, Coos, Curry,
Umatilla and Morrow counties.
Deadline extended for
County geographic “squaw” references renamed
Title II project proposals
Creek after a notable Paiute chief — was
Cogswell said the Grant County
supported by the county and the tribes, he changes are part of a process of changing
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
The U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture has conirmed
seven new members of the
Northeast Oregon Forests
Resource Advisory Commit-
tee.
The NEOFRAC now has
full membership
and will convene
in June 2016
to recommend
project propos-
als to improve or
restore nation-
al forests in the
Blue Mountains.
The NEOFRAC
meeting will be held at the
John Day Airport in June.
More details will be released
when a inal date and meet-
ing agenda is determined.
Year-two Title II propos-
als were originally due on
April 1, but the deadline has
been extended to April 22.
Nonproit organizations,
local governments and oth-
ers are encouraged to pro-
pose projects that restore
watersheds, decommission
or maintain roads, control
noxious weeds, enhance
recreational
experiences
or otherwise improve the
condition of the forest. Pro-
posed projects do not need
to be implemented on Forest
Service lands,
but must show
a beneit to na-
tional forest re-
sources.
Application
forms, instruc-
tions and sub-
mission guide-
lines can be
found online at www.fs.us-
da.gov/main/wallowa-whit-
man/workingtogether/advi-
sorycommittees. New Title
II projects must be initiated
by Sept. 30, 2017, and all Ti-
tle II funds must be obligated
by Sept. 30, 2018.
For more information,
contact Susan Garner, sc-
garner@fs.fed.us, 541-575-
3039.
Family Owned Since 1927
The federal agency responsible for
naming natural features has changed 13
names in Grant County that contained the
word “squaw.”
Thursday, the U.S. Board on Geo-
graphic Names approved ive names pro-
posed by the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation and seven
proposed by the Grant County Court as
alternatives to the tribal proposals, ac-
cording to Oregon Geographic Names
Board President Phil Cogswell.
One replacement name — Wewa
said.
“It appears that the BGN took into ac-
count both tribal and county concerns as
it made its decision from two competing
lists,” Cogswell said after he was notiied
of the federal action.
The Oregon board, an afiliate of the
Oregon Historical Society, assists the
federal board in reviewing proposals for
Oregon and makes recommendations on
them. Neither board initiates proposals,
but rather, they deal with those received
from individuals or entities.
“squaw” names that began in Oregon in
the mid-1990s and has led to more than
80 names being changed in Oregon and
more than 250 nationally on the basis that
many American Indian people consider
the word offensive and derogatory.
In all, the U.S. board action affects the
names of one rock, three meadows and
nine streams in the county.
The next edition of the Blue Moun-
tain Eagle will include a map detailing
the new names for the locations in Grant
County.
Prescribed burns planned in Malheur National Forest
Blue Mountain Eagle
Malheur National Forest
fire managers are evaluating
conditions for conducting
prescribed burns across the
forest this spring.
As part of Malheur’s
hazardous fuels reduction
program, each of the three
districts are preparing for
spring landscape prescribed
burning in various areas of
the forest.
Burning planned may in-
clude these units:
• Emigrant Creek Ranger
District: Dairy and George.
• Prairie City Ranger
District: Knox.
• Blue Mountain Ranger
District: Crawford Creek,
Balance, Damon and 18
Road.
Burning may have some
short-term impacts on air
quality levels, but any burn-
ing activity will be done
during weather conditions
that should minimize the
impact of smoke on local
communities.
Updates and maps will
be available at fs.usda.gov/
malheur.
For more information,
call one of the local For-
est Service offices: Blue
Mountain, 541-575-3000;
Emigrant Creek, 541-541-
573-4300; or Prairie City,
541-820-3800.
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