Workplace roundup: Strippers fight for protection laws; Intel’s “bonding” leave raises bar; Rose City Mortgage’s unlimited PTO featured.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Rep. Shemia Fagan has promised to spearhead efforts for fairer, safer working environments for Oregon’s strippers.
One bill would make it necessary for clubs to display information about what rights dancers are entitled to in the workplace and to create a hotline strippers could call to anonymously report workplace abuse.
Another bill would create health and safety standards for the workplace, including mandating cleanliness of the stages and poles dancers use during their performances. The bill would also allow dancers to review a club’s security footage upon request if they face incidents or altercations that occur on the job.
“A lot of people have multiple jobs in this economy, and what people don’t realize is that strippers are the cooks in the kitchen, or they could be your dog groomer, your daycare provider or your hair stylist,” says Elle Stanger, a dancer whose part of the group advocating for new laws. “Whether your job is sexual in nature, or not, does not determine how well or poorly you should be treated. We’re all human beings regardless.”
Read more at Willamette Week.
In the tech industry, experts are reacting to Intel’s new “bonding” leave policy that allows 13-weeks of maternity leave as well as eight weeks of paid time off for both mothers and fathers after the baby is born.
OregonLive.com reports that the new rules will make Intel a popular destination when recruiting, but the policy is far from being widespread.
Smaller businesses say they can’t afford the extras, and activists are making statewide paid sick days a higher priority than paid parental leave this legislative session.
Only three states – California, New Jersey and Rhode Island — have paid family leave programs, and the United States continues to be an outlier, the only industrialized country that does not mandate paid maternity leave – a point President Obama made in his State of the Union address last week.
The state’s largest newspaper also reports on one company’s unlimited paid time off policy.
Employees of Rose City Mortgage expressed their gratitude for such a flexible work environment. Rose City ranked as the third-best company Oregon Business’ 2014 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For (small company category).
Owner Renee Spears says she instituted the unlimited PTO policy several years ago with a simple goal of treating workers as she would want to be treated.
“My intention for creating the business was creating a place where I’d want to go work,” she said. “It didn’t seem fair that I got (unlimited time off) and my employees didn’t. It came down to fairness.”
Read more at OregonLive.com.
