Amazon Settles Oregon Wage Theft Lawsuit: Even as it prepares to lay off 10,000 corporate employees, Amazon is spending $18 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by its Oregon employees. According to Monday’s press release from plaintiffs’ attorney John Egan, this is the “largest wage and hour class settlement in Oregon history.” but were not paid extra wages if they showed up for work within five minutes. Deprived of wages equivalent to more than 40,000 hours of unpaid work for over seven years. The complaint also alleges that the company did not pay the employee in full because the employee took less than his required 30-minute break at all Oregon warehouses. A U.S. District Court judge approved the settlement of the 2019 lawsuit in September, but not notified affected employees until the end of the week, Egan said. WWMore than 10,000 employees each receive approximately $100 in accruals, and employees who file claims can receive an additional $1,200 in fines. A lawyer for Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Portland Mayor Eyes Massive Camp Locations: On November 17, the Portland City Council voted to request $27 million in reserve funds from Mayor Ted Wheeler’s fall budget adjustment to kickstart the six large encampments he hopes to build. , allowing the city to ban camping on sidewalks.Sources say his request is likely to get him three votes in council WW, but how the dollars are allocated can change between now and the vote. This is because Mayor Dan Ryan requested that his $6 million of the $27 million be allocated to rent relief. Ryan’s request comes as Multnomah County leaders consider whether he will also offer an $14 million rent concession to prevent a wave of non-paying evictions by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the mayor’s office is talking to seven property owners about hosting his controversial 250-person licensed camp on their land.
CLACKAMAS Commission deficit: While the Democrats generally beat their pre-election expectations last week, both locally and nationally, one place the Republicans won, albeit in a nonpartisan election, was on the Clackamas County Commission. Incumbent Paul Sabbath, a moderate Republican, defeated challenger Libra Forde, a black nonprofit executive. Even more surprising is that Ben West, a Republican nurse from Wilsonville, has strong support from labor unions and other Democratic groups, surpassing West as the incumbent commissioner, a Democratic lawyer, Getting rid of Sonya Fischer. The winner joins Speaker Tootie Smith and Commissioner Mark Shull to give Republicans her 4-to-1 advantage in her third-largest county in Oregon. Democrats hold her 6-point voter registration advantage in this county (the only Democrat is Commissioner Martha Schrader). I thought it was very interesting,” said Clackamas County Democratic Commissioner Jean Lee. “Certainly, we still vote like purple counties.”
Providence suffers heavy losses again: Providence Health & Services, the state’s largest hospital system operating eight hospitals and more than 90 clinics in Oregon, said last week it was hit by inflation, staffing shortages, delayed repayments and ongoing supply chain disruptions. Announced a significant quarterly operating loss of $164 million. third quarter loss. That brings Providence’s total operating loss to $1.1 billion through his first three quarters of 2022. The nonprofit reported that its large reserve base (effectively saving from internal reserves) has also taken a hit from weak financial markets. We’re down $1.4 billion for the year, but we still have $9.1 billion worth of assets. Providence CEO Dr. Rod Hochman said in his statement:
