Labor commissioner lists goals for second term

SALEM — Dan Gardner was sworn in Jan. 2 to a second term as commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

A former state legislator and a card-carrying member (third generation) of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48, Gardner outlined his 2007 legislative agenda — an agenda he says “will help both Oregon’s workers and the state’s economy over the next four years.”

BOLI enforces wage and hour laws, civil rights laws, apprenticeship training and provides technical assistance for employers’ programs. BOLI has offices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Bend, Medford and Pendleton, employs 106 people, and has a two-year budget of approximately $20 million.

Gardner said he will continue to bolster efforts to provide top-notch technical assistance to state employers trying to comply with both state and federal workplace laws. “It is my firm belief that the vast majority of employers intend to follow the law at all times for the benefit of their workers and their companies,” he said.

Additionally, Gardner will work to link Oregon high school students with apprenticeship and training centers in order to help fill the gap left by the elimination of vocational education programs in state schools and to help meet the growing shortage of construction workers.

“We need to get to work immediately to train young Oregonians to help meet the critical shortage of construction workers we will soon face here and around the nation,” said Gardner. “Guidance counselors need to be reconnected to the state apprenticeship programs and all that they can offer.”

Gardner said that “robust economic development” depends primarily on the creation of high-paying, family-wage jobs. He defined a family-wage job as one with health care benefits for workers and their families, and retirement benefits.

Gardner said he also will push for legislation requiring overtime pay for workers after each eight-hour shift they work. The law was changed in the 1990s to pay overtime only after 40-hours a workweek.

Gardner said oftentimes retail employers schedule workers 12 to 16 hours a day. If that worker doesn’t put in more than 40 hours in that workweek, the hours are all paid at straight time.

“Oregon is an at-will state, so if an employee refuses to work a 16-hour shift, he or she can be fired,” he said.

Gardner said workers are more prone to injuries if they work longer than eight hours in a day. His bill would require time-and-a-half pay after eight hours on the job.

Gardner also will introduce legislation that will require employers to provide personal record requests in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost.

“Some employers think ‘reasonable’ is six months after the request and $5,000 (for their time),” he said.

Gardner will propose a limit of 45 days after a records request is made, and a yet-to-be-determined “reasonable cost.”