I am often asked how to protect the rights of elderly persons in
Oregon. In addition to having the same rights as other people, Oregon
law provides that elderly persons have some additional protections. Read More...
Protecting the Rights of the Elderly
Oregon Authorizes Use of Transfer on Death Deeds
The Oregon Legislature recently passed a new law that allows an owner
of real property to name a person to receive the property upon the
owner’s death by signing a Transfer on Death Deed. The deed only becomes
effective to transfer the property at the owner’s death, so the owner
will continue to own the property during the owner’s life. During the
owner’s lifetime, the owner can change the beneficiary or revoke the
deed. The owner remains able to sell the property, in which event the
Transfer on Death Deed would automatically be revoked as to the property
that was sold. For the deed to be effective, it must be designated as a
Transfer on Death Deed, it must identify a beneficiary by name, and it
must be recorded in the deed records of the County Clerk in the County
where the property is located before the owner’s death. Read More...Residential Eviction Notices Must Include Specific Date and Time of Termination of Tenancy
The Oregon Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling that residential
eviction notices must specify the date and time of the termination of
the tenancy. In Greenway v. Parlanti, 245 Or. App. 144, 261
P.3d 69 (2011), the landlord provided tenant with a 24-hour eviction
notice after receiving threats of violence from the tenant’s son. The
notice indicated that the tenancy would end 24 hours from the time of
personal service of the notice on the tenant. The time the notice was
served was included with the served notice. After the trial court judge
found in favor of the landlord, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed
finding that the applicable statute (ORS 90.396(1)) requires that the
specific date and time of the termination of the tenancy be included in
the notice. Rather than “24 hours from the time listed below,” the
landlord needed to specifically identify the termination time on the
following day. The court also reasoned that because service of eviction
notices can be made in a number of ways, including mailing, ruling
otherwise would, in certain circumstances, force the tenant to guess
when the termination became effective. To avoid uncertainty when
serving residential eviction notices, landlords can identify a specific
time and date that provides more notice than is required. For example, a
72-hour residential eviction notice served at 9am on Tuesday, November
1, 2011 could indicate a termination date and time of 12:00 pm (noon) on
Friday, November 4, 2011, despite that the termination time could be a
little earlier that day. Read More...Employers: No Retaliation to Oral Complaints
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.A. s 201, et.
seq.) (the “Act”) forbids employers from discharging or otherwise
discriminating against employees for, among other things, filing a
complaint against the employer under or related to the Act. 29 U.S.C.A. s
215(a)(3). Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Section
215(a)(3) applies not only to written complaints filed by employees,
but to oral complaints as well. Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.,
131 S. Ct. 1325 (2011). Specifically, the Court held that a complaint
is “filed” when a reasonable, objective person would have understood the
employee to have put the employer on notice that the employee is
asserting statutory rights under the Act. This decision significantly
expands employees’ ability to file retaliation suits against their
employers. Employers must take internal complaints (both oral and
written) seriously and be prepared to defend decisions to discharge or
discipline their employees. Read More...