Senate Democrats charged forward with a plan to bulldoze principles of due process in the workplace.

SB 483 will create a presumption of guilt for employers accused of retaliation. The law would completely change accepted procedures of fairness.

SB 483 is sponsored by Senator Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland).

Discrimination and retaliation in the workplace have been illegal for decades. The existing ‘innocent until proven guilty’ system already allows employees to get justice if they have been wronged, evidenced by a 10-fold increase in OSHA complaints in the last year. SB 483 will presume that all employers are guilty of discrimination or retaliation even when the allegations are dubious, or the employee has filed an anonymous complaint. This would create a presumption when an employee alleges retaliation when they don’t get the shifts they want.

“This bill opens up employers to a wide variety of spurious allegations from employees and activist lawyers,” Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Lyons) said. “This would send struggling businesses’ legal expenses through the roof at the same time they are trying to recover from a year of devastating lockdowns. Let me be clear, discrimination or retaliation in the workplace is unacceptable. The remedy for it is not to rewrite the rules of due process.”

Senate Democrats passed SB 483 along party lines. It now heads to the House of Representatives where they will have an opportunity to correct this terrible legislation.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-04-14 14:28:42

Last Update: 2021-04-14 14:47:10