GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to include more information about employer retaliation in pandemic-related employment situations. The updates explain and clarify the rights of employees and job applicants who believe they suffered retaliation for protected activities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, or other employment discrimination laws. 

Earlier this year, Oregon passed House Bill (HB2474), updating eligibility language for the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA). Beginning January 1, 2022, additions will be made to OFLA eligibility requirements.

Recently, a federal judge in Georgia issued a nationwide injunction preventing the enforcement of the Federal Contractor COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate.

The 2022 National Business Trends Survey is now available! This national survey is run each year by Cascade in partnership with the Employer Associations of America (EAA), collecting executives’ feedback and thoughts on the current and upcoming business year and trends. This year’s survey had 1,216 participating organization from all 50 states.

For years we have been applying models in our leadership trainings of direct and honest communication with the intent of improving workplace collaboration. Here are a few examples of how we sometimes misapply the models and create negative ripples; more harm than good.

Happy Holidays! What does this mean for the workplace? For some, it means stress, but work shouldn’t be adding to it. A few things to think about during the holiday season, including holiday parties, gift giving and time-off requests. 

Globally, the pandemic has fueled increased economic insecurity for women and girls, and in far too many places—including, far too often, here in America—their fundamental rights remain at risk. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a statement affirming their contribution to the White House’s National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. The strategy identified ten priorities. 

One of the many lasting cultural shifts to come from the COVID-19 pandemic is the flexibility for many employees to work remotely. What once was thought to be a temporary assignment, now appears to be here to stay. The next question comes, how will you compensate those employees located in different areas?  

Changing our clocks back an hour means we gain an hour of sleep (or fun) that night, but what does it mean for employers?

On September 9th, President Biden announced an Executive Order requiring all eligible contractors and subcontractors to mandate COVID-19 vaccines without the option for weekly testing, except for religious and medical exemptions. On September 24th, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued guidance regarding this mandate.

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it is extending its remote I-9 verification rule through December 31, 2021. Because of ongoing precautions related to COVID-19, DHS has extended the Form I-9 flexibility policy until December 31, 2021.

On October 18, the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and K-12 school staff will take effect. Find out what this means for healthcare providers and healthcare staff and K-12 school staff.

As the vaccine mandates continue to grow for organizations, let's look at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)'s guidelines regarding religious discrimination in the workplace. 

In the workplace, regardless of the diversity you bring, everyone wants four things: to be recognized, appreciated, valued, and have their talents and skills utilized. The challenge is in how to make sure everyone is getting what they want and need. Learn more at our October 13 session on Understanding and Managing Different Behavioral Styles. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that it will extend the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 filing deadline to October 25, 2021. The previous deadline was August 23, 2021. 

Cascade is excited to announce that the 2021 Regional Benefits Survey report is now available! With 381 participants, this survey report is a great resource for benefits and policies data for Oregon and Washington organizations that want to review their benefits packages and benchmark their benefits and policies against local competition.

Check out great data on common benefit practices.

Silos may be a natural and predictable phenomenon with work groups. They are certainly common. Are they always a bad thing? Probably not. When speaking of silos, typically workplaces are referring to the “I-am-only-interested-in-my-group” dynamics that occur between day shift and swing shift, or between sales and production, between administration and front-line service. Information isn’t shared, resources are hoarded, barriers are erected and business suffers.

As we continue to emerge and adapt to the effects the pandemic has had on our personal and professional worlds, I wanted to reach out to make sure you are aware of an upcoming virtual leadership conference Cascade is co-hosting. From one leader to another, this is an event you won’t want to miss! In fact, you may want to have your entire leadership team attend.

Measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of your employee benefit offerings enables you to maximize both your organization’s and your employees’ unique nature and needs.

Terminating an employee can be a stressful process for any employer, as the decision to terminate employment carries the risk of a possible legal claim. All employers, whether you have just a few employees or thousands, need to have the proper policies and practices in place to negate the risk of legal challenges down the road.

Minimum wage increased in the Portland Metro area on July 1, 2021 to $14.00 but that likely isn’t enough to attract or retain many in the current labor market. An overwhelming amount of businesses are reporting difficulty in hiring workers and retaining existing employees. This is always a key concern for employers but not to the current magnitude. 

The 2021 Regional Benefits Survey is now open for participation! With over 100 questions, this survey is a great resource for Pacific Northwest organizations looking to review their benefit packages and get a sense of the local competition. With the recent hiring difficulties, remaining competitive against multiple offers is more important than ever!

Last month during Member Appreciation Month, Cascade members experienced a great virtual session on the best practices to avoid employment lawsuits presented by Randy Sutton, a partner with Saalfeld Griggs Business Lawyers. At one point, Randy referred to the “paranoid lawyer” and followed up with a list of actions in the workplace that create unnecessary risk and make it easier for a plaintiff to prove pretext.

The Oregon Legislature passed several employment related bills this session. Many of these will take effect at the beginning of 2022, but some were passed by emergency order, meaning they’ve already taken effect.

Employee benefit programs are rooted deeply into Cascade’s history of helping its members build better workplaces. We understand that each employee is different and that every employer wants to meet their healthcare needs, within budgetary reasonableness of course. Cascade’s benefits partner, CSNW Benefits, digs deeper for you!

Are you feeling overwhelmed with recruiting right now? You are not alone. Everywhere you turn, there are employers offering hiring bonuses and other incentives to try and attract candidates. Anyone who is serious about finding great people has started exploring different recruiting avenues from networking to job boards to hiring dedicated (and expensive) recruiters. 

The 2021 Regional Pay Survey reports are now available! This year, 553 organizations participated from across Oregon and Washington, representing data for 41,467 employees. From that data we were able to report on 527 positions overall. Of the 553 participants, 192 were nonprofits, which resulted in 195 positions being reportable in the Nonprofit Report.

With all the changes we’ve endured the past 15 months, let us not forget about the scheduled minimum wage increase effective July 1st. The chart below outlines the increase amounts each year by region and which counties are included in each region.

Members are the reason that Cascade Employers Association has existed for nearly 75 years. As a “thank you” for your ongoing support, we are dedicating June to YOU! We have set aside the entire month of June to show our appreciation to Cascade members with free webinars, prizes and more!

With restrictions easing and more employees returning to the workplace, we know you have questions about both the legal and practical issues around the impact of COVID-19 vaccines and the new mask requirements. We hope you can join us for this one-hour live conversation on May 26th to participate and ask questions as you make critical decisions for your organization.