On November 19, 2018, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries
(BOLI) issued its final administrative rules relating to the
state's
Equal Pay Law, which prohibits pay discrimination on the basis
of protected class, as well as screening job applicants based on
current or past compensation.
The rules establish definitions for several key words in the
law, provide more concrete guidance on how to meet the law's
posting requirements, and seek to clarify certain provisions of the
law related to screening job applicants based on salary history,
determining whether employees perform work of comparable character,
establishing bona fide factors that may justify paying employees
performing work of comparable character at different compensation
levels, explaining benefits as a component of compensation, and
"red-circling" or freezing employee compensation in order
to bring the pay of employees performing work of comparable
character into alignment. Finally, the rules
