Cannabis Employee Compensation and Paying Staff Equally Under New Oregon Laws

Want to know what a competing Oregon cannabis business is paying its employees? Don’t ask job applicants.

Oregon passed expansive equal pay legislation in 2017 and a key provision banning employers from asking applicants about past salary and compensation went into effect this month. The Oregon Equal Pay Act makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to seek the pay history of an applicant. Similar to the “ban the box” legislation (discussed here), Oregon employers can inquire about past compensation only after making a job offer that includes an offer of compensation. Employers are also banned from seeking compensation history from an applicant’s past and current employers and from screening applicants based on past salary.

Oregon cannabis companies should review their applications and standard interview questions to remove any questions about past compensation and if you work with a recruiting agency, you should make sure their screening processes comply with the law as well.

The Equal Pay Act also expands Oregon’s equal pay requirements by prohibiting disparate wages for work of a “comparable character” for members of a protected class. Protected classes include persons distinguished by race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, or age. Work of a comparable character does not simply mean the same job title or similar duties. Instead, it requires an analysis of the knowledge, skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions the position requires. The law though does allow for unequal pay for the performance of work of comparable character if the pay difference is based on any of the following:

• A seniority system
• A merit system
• A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, including piece-rate work
• Workplace locations
• Travel
• Education
• Training
• Experience

The equal pay provision does not go into effect until January 1, 2019. This allows employers time to assess their compensation practices and adjust wages as necessary. Employers are not allowed to reduce the compensation of any employee to comply with the law.

Once the law goes into effect, employees can file complaints alleging violations with Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and BOLI may award up to two years of lost wages. Beginning January 1, 2024, employees can bring civil actions against their employers. Courts can award lost wages, attorneys’ fees and costs, injunctive relief, compensatory damages (money awarded to a plaintiff to compensate for a loss), and punitive damages (money awarded to a plaintiff to punish the defendant). Employers can avoid compensatory and punitive damages by showing they completed an equal pay analyses within three years before the date the employee filed the action.

If you are an Oregon cannabis business with employees, there is plenty you can and should do now to bring your company in line with existing  laws and to set yourself up for compliance with future laws. First and foremost, evaluate your hiring practices and ensure you are no longer asking your job applicants about their pay history. If you have friends in the cannabis business, limit discussions about what they pay employees. In preparation for enactment of the equal pay provision, analyze your pay practices. Are your employees in comparable positions being paid the same amount? If not, ask yourself whether there is a bona fide reason for the pay disparity and if there is not, consider raising the wages of the person with the lower wages before the law goes into effect.

source https://www.cannalawblog.com/cannabis-employee-compensation-and-paying-staff-equally-under-new-oregon-laws/