Author: Megan Vaniman
Oregon Attorney Fees in Certain Workers’ Compensation Matters Increased as of July 1, 2024
In Oregon Workers’ Compensation, attorney fees for representation of a claimant are controlled by statute. Certain attorney fees associated with penalties for unreasonable claim processing…
Oregon Annual Adjustment to Maximum Attorney Fees Effective July 1, 2023
It’s that time of year again, the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board published the annual adjustment to attorney fees awarded under ORS 656.262(11)(a); ORS 656.262(14)(a); and…
Proposed Oregon bill to disallow no-rehire provisions in workers’ compensation settlements
AFL-CIO (a conglomerate of union groups) has proposed legislation to prohibit no re-hire/reemployment/reinstatement clauses in workers’ compensation settlements. Specifically, the proposed legislation would only allow…
Washington Silenced No More Act
Washington state passed sweeping new legislation relating to non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses in employment related agreements. In 2018, Washington implemented legislation in response to the…
Oregon Court of Appeals determines injury during paid break is not compensable
Are we seeing a shift in the Court of Appeals in relation to injuries during paid breaks? Recently, in Watt v. SAIF, the Court of…
Oregon CROWN Act Goes into Effect January 1, 2022
In 2021, the Oregon Legislature passed the Oregon CROWN Act. The CROWN act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and potential employees based on hairstyles…
Oregon Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers and Educators in Effect on October 18
Governor Brown’s vaccine mandate for Oregon health care workers and educators went into effect earlier this week. On August 19, 2021 Governor Brown implemented a…
Oregon Passes CROWN Act
Oregon joins a number of states in prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyles associated with a person’s race. Governor Brown signed HB2935 on June 11, 2021….
BOLI Passes Permanent Rules Relating to OFLA Sick Child Leave During Public Health Emergency
In March 2020, Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) temporarily expanded Oregon Family Leave Act leave to extend protected leave to include employee leave…
New Oregon 801 Form Effective January 1, 2021
The Workers’ Compensation Division implemented a new 801 and 827 form–effective January 1, 2021. The new 801/827 forms remove the Social Security Number. The removal…
Shift in Oregon Claim Closure Analysis?
As of recently, the Oregon Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Workers’ Compensation Board have issued significant decisions relating to closure of Oregon workers’ compensation…
Oregon Workers’ Compensation Mental Health Presumption of Compensability
Presumption—it’s a scary word in the world of Oregon workers’ compensation. Last year Oregon passed Senate Bill 507—now codified at ORS 656.802(7)—creating a presumption of…
Reductions in Hours, Furloughs, and Layoffs During COVID-19
A lot of employers are having hard conversations right now. A part of those conversations inevitably includes employment decisions. Many companies are trying to decide…
Oregon Legislature Makes Sweeping changes with Workplace Fairness Act
In response to the national #metoo movement, the Oregon legislature passed the 2019 Oregon Workplace Fairness Act. The Workplace Fairness Act (the “Act”) takes aim…
Oregon WCD implements new rejection policy for incomplete or incorrect 801 forms
In a June 27, 2017 Industry Notice, the Oregon WCD announced it will reject incomplete or incorrect insurer/employer created 801 and 1502 forms. Insurers and…
Washington passes strict distracted driving law
Hopefully you are reading this blog post from the safety of your computer and not while driving. If you are using your cell phone to…
WCD Adresses Supreme Court’s Brown v. SAIF decision
The Oregon Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brown v. SAIF, 361 Or 241 (2017) calls into doubt the applicability of the Workers’ Compensation Division rules…
Changes to OAR 436-060 effective as of January 1, 2017
In 2016, the Workers’ Compensation Division drafted changes to OAR 436-060. These changes went into effect on January 1, 2017. Below, I have outlined several…
New Oregon WCD Rules go into effect January 1, 2017
Earlier this year, the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division proposed extensive changes to division rules. The rule changes go into effect on January 1, 2017. The…
Join SBH at the DMEC ADAAA/Family Leave Roundtable
Please join me at the DMEC Roundtable on December 14, 2016. Mike Moses from Kaiser Permanente and I will be speaking on ADAAA and Family…
Claimant only required to show idiopathic factors were less likely to have caused unexplained injury
The Oregon Court of Appeals established new case-law on claimant’s burden of proof in “unexplained fall” claims. If an injury is unexplained, as a matter…
Board’s new attorney fee rules go into effect on November 1.
The Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board passed revised attorney fee rules on October 13, 2016. The most significant changes involve increased attorney fees for disputed claims…
Claimant’s request for hearing on 10 year old denial is untimely.
On October 26, 2006, SAIF issued a denial of claimant’s injury claim. The denial was mailed via certified mail and a person who identified himself…
Department of Labor increases penalties under LHWCA
The Department of Labor issued an interim final rule increasing penalties assessed by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs under the LHWCA. The new rules…
Pohrman Lives On
U.S. Bank v. Pohrman, 272 Or App 31 (2015), the Court of Appeals case that determined an injury suffered while an employee is on break…
