Working Interview in Oregon

Oregon companies who require applicants to work during job interviews are generally required to pay the applicant/employee for all time the applicant/employee works. Often the working interview is also used to train the employee. Training is required to be paid when it relates to the employee’s work.  Rule.  If the Oregon employer does not pay wages for the time the applicant/employee works in the working interview, the applicant/employee has a potential wage claim. Schuck Law files wage claims to help you recover not just the wages, but also penalty wages due because the employer failed to pay for time worked during the employer’s working interview. A wage claim is a common reference to a lawsuit or proceeding used to force an employer to pay wages along with other penalties the law provides when your employer fails to pay wages Oregon law requires.

Why do Employers Use “Working Interviews”

Of course every employer is different, but may tell you that a working interview is a great opportunity for you because you can more easily prove your worth and that you should be the one they hire. Through the “working interview”, you can prove your job skills and work ethic. While this is all true about working interviews, it does not address how Oregon law deals with working interviews. Oregon law does not directly address whether an employer can require an employee to work during the interview process. Instead, Oregon law defines a different term. Oregon law defines “work time” to determine what time an employee gives to the employer must be paid. Work time includes all time the employee is required to work, allowed to work, and time that the employer authorizes the employee to be on location for work. Thus, the question is whether an employee is required or allowed to work during the working interview. If so, then likely the employee is due wages for the time they work during the working interview. Further, it means that lawyers, like those at Schuck Law, can file wage claims for employees who were required to work during working interviews and were not paid wages for the time spent in the working interview.

Unpaid Working Interviews Violate Oregon’s Minimum Wage Laws

As long as the employer pays all wages due for the working interview, all is fine. But when the working interview is unpaid, problems arise. One problem could be the application of Oregon’s minimum wage laws to the working interview. The minimum wage laws generally require employers to pay the employee a minimum wage for all hours worked. Oregon minimum wage law is different than federal minimum wage law discussed below. Arguably, Oregon’s minimum wage law requires each hour worked to be treated separately, meaning that a minimum wage claim could be brought by a lawyer even though the pay period’s hours, when averaged, exceed Oregon’s minimum wage. Nothing distinguishes a working interview from other hours worked. Oregon’s minimum wage rate fluctuates by year and is set by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. BOLI Poster. It is adjusted, usually upwards, every year in July. If an employer fails to pay an employee minimum wages for all hours worked, including those worked during a working interview, the attorneys at Schuck Law may be able to win up to 30 days of wages in addition to the unpaid minimum wages for the employee. Minimum Wage Page.

One confusing aspect of minimum wage claims are that a minimum wage claim for unpaid working interview wages can exist even where the job applied for is supposed to pay more than minimum wage. For instance, if the job applied for pays $30 per hour, a minimum wage claim can still exist for the unpaid working interview time. In this example, the applicant/employee who was unpaid for a working interview could have a claim for minimum wage for the time spent in the working interview. The lawyers at Schuck Law could also win the employee a minimum wage civil penalty because the employer did not pay minimum wages for the working interview on the next regularly scheduled payday. This does not stop the attorneys at Schuck Law from seeking an unpaid wages claim for the employee to recover the difference between the minimum wages and the promised $30 per hour for all the time worked during the working interview.

Oregon Late Payment of Final Wages Claim for Unpaid Working Interviews

A working interview is generally considered employment. Because the applicant/employee is likely employed, they are due wages. When the employment ends, the applicant/employee is due all those wages from the working interview. For the applicant/employee who does not get hired, the end of employment likely comes after the working interview is completed. Oregon wage and hour law sets time deadlines for payment of wages when the employment relationship ends, including wages earned in a working interview. An employer must pay all wages due to the employee within these time lines. For instance, where the employer terminates (fires) the employee, all wages are due within one business day under Oregon’s wage and hour laws. While no court has determined whether the failure to hire after a working interview is classified as a layoff or fire, the most likely timeline under Oregon wage law requires the employer to pay all wages for the working interview within one business day. If an employer/boss willfully fails to timely pay all final wages, the lawyers at Schuck Law can likely recover up to 30 days of penalty wages in addition to the unpaid working interview wages by having our Oregon wage claim attorneys file a wage claim lawsuit in Oregon…Late Pay Page

Alternatively, if the applicant/employee is hired, and then later the employment relationship ends, wages for the unpaid working interview remain unpaid. In this case, the lawyers (attorneys) at Schuck Law could file the wage claim after the employment relationship ends. Thus, because the working interview wages remain unpaid, the wage claim filed by the lawyers at Schuck Law would be for the unpaid working interview wages plus penalty wages under Oregon law. Thus, it would not matter how the employment relationship ended, our attorneys would likely be able to recover penalty wages for you.

Application of the FLSA to Working Interviews

Oregon employees who perform working interviews may also be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA for short. The FLSA is federal wage and hour law that governs payment of the minimum wage and payments for overtime. Like Oregon law, federal law requires employees to be paid minimum wages. Where an employer does not pay minimum wages, our lawyers may also be able to recover double the wages for the working interview by filing a wage claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In addition, our attorneys may be able to hold your actual boss separately liable, not just the company, if he/she causes the employer to fail to pay minimum wages or overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Our lawyers (attorneys) can use this to get the attention of specific decision makers within the employer. While historically the federal minimum wage rate has been lower than Oregon’s minimum wage rate, there are times when pursing the federal minimum wage will be a better choice for the employee…Minimum Wage Page. Our lawyers are trained and can help guide employees to make the correct decision on what type of wage claim should be brought.

Oregon Overtime Wage Claim & Working Interviews

Oregon wage and hour laws also generally require that overtime wages be paid by an employer/boss to non-exempt employees. The issue our lawyers will help prove is that time spent in working interviews is work time under Oregon law. Once our lawyers prove that the working interview must be counted as work time, it must be included in the calculation to determine whether overtime is due. Overtime wages are equal to 1 1/2 times the employee’s regular hourly rate (also referred to as overtime rate) and must be paid whenever the employee works more than 40 hours in a single work week. Likely places that Oregon employers fail to pay overtime because of working interviews is by failing to count the unpaid working interview as work time. For instance, applicant/employee begins their working interview on Sunday. Their interview lasts Sunday and Monday where they work 16 hours. Tuesday, the employer hires the employee and begins what the employer calls employment. They work 32 more hours and so do not pay any overtime wages. However, when the working interview is considered, the employee is due 8 hours of overtime wages. Overtime Page. Oregon wage and hour laws may also may require certain employees who work in factories to be paid overtime wages when they work more than 10 hours in a day. So a four hour working interview and then 8 hour of work thereafter, may result in two hours of overtime wages due. In addition to recovering the unpaid overtime wages, the lawyers at Schuck Law could recover up to 30 days of wages as a civil overtime penalty for the employee. In addition to the unpaid overtime wages and the overtime civil penalty, our lawyers (attorneys) may be able to recover penalty wages for employees whose employment has ended. This is because Oregon law requires prompt payment of all wages due employees at the end of employment. Late Pay Claim. This is true whether the employee quits, is fired, or is laid off. Further, by having our Oregon overtime wage claim attorneys file an overtime wage claim lawsuit, the employee could require the employer to pay their lawyer (attorney) fees and costs.