Oregon Supreme Court gives employers a break

The Oregon Supreme Court handed Oregon employers a huge victory today, finding that employees have no private right of action for missed breaks under Oregon wage and hour laws.  The Court of Appeals in Gafur v. Legacy Good Samritan Hospital had interpreted BOLI’s administrative rule, OAR 839-020-0050, to require four hours' pay for every three hours and 50 minutes of work.  The Supreme Court reversed, finding that BOLI’s rest break requirement is intended to benefit the employees’ physical and mental well-being, not to provide a source of additional income from employers who violate the rule.

With the prevalence of class action wage and hour litigation, the Court of Appeals decision had been a huge concern to employers, many of whom rarely monitor break periods, for reasons including the difficulty of tracking the time and the desire to allow employees more flexibility and responsibility for their time management.  Absent close monitoring of employees’ time, any employee could claim that he or she missed a break on any given day and there would be little the employer could do to prove otherwise.  Today's ruling eliminates that possibility.

Read the Supreme Court case here.  Read our coverage of the 2007 Court of Appeals decision here.