The Oregon Employment Department held listening sessions about the rules proposed to implement the changes in Oregon unemployment law that would remove the disqualification from unemployment compensation for striking workers and permit payment to strikers while on strike. See: UI Draft Rule Change Listening Sessions – Summer 2025 : Agency Information : State of Oregon
The statutory changes in Oregon raise many federal conformity and administrative issues that make it difficult to craft administrative rules that are consistent with federal law.
Fundamental issues include:
- Federal law requires the state UI law to determine eligibility for individuals on a case by case basis. Each individual must have become unemployed involuntarily and be able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work to be paid unemployment compensation with respect to a week claimed. The legislation permits individuals to leave work voluntarily and to be paid unemployment compensation for weeks during a strike without being available to return to work to the employer.
- The provisions permitting payment of striking workers raise conflicts of law with provisions that require individuals not to refuse suitable work.
- The provisions may be in conflict with provisions that require denial of benefits to employees of certain educational institutions between terms.
This rule proposes to implement the newly enacted Oregon statute, which appears to be contrary to federal law as it deems individuals who are not available to work to be available to work as determined by the striking union (not by the UI agency). The new statute goes further to permit striking workers to be deemed available to work when there is “an expectation that they will return to work for their employer when the labor dispute ends”. An expectation by whom? The striking workers should be required to be available for work as a condition of being paid unemployment compensation during the period of the strike.
Obviously, the labor dispute will end only when the parties to the dispute end the dispute, and even when there is a resolution of the dispute, an agreement to return to work date for each individual may not be scheduled until weeks after the agreement is signed by the union and the employer.
Some commenters in listening sessions suggest that the Oregon statute already permits payment of unemployment compensation to some striking workers in cases where there is a lockout or when an employer has broken the terms of the collective bargaining agreement or taken action that is contrary to the terms of the National Relations Act. These specific provisions are not determinative of whether the individual is in fact available to work and actively seeking work on a week-to-week basis.
It is fundamental that eligibility and payment of unemployment compensation is determined based on whether the individual is able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work. Individuals who are not available for work may not be paid unemployment compensation as provided in Section 303(a)(12) of the Social Security Act. There is no exception to this requirement when individuals are unemployed due to a labor dispute. Eligibility is not something that may be determined by the striking union or based on an expectation by the striking worker or the union that the individual will return to work when the labor dispute ends. The draft rule and the statute on which it is based are contrary to Federal law.
Share Your Voice on This Important Issue
Official public comments are now being collected by the Oregon Employment Department. If you wish to provide feedback on this proposed rule change, you can submit your comments via email. Please include the full rule number in your submission and send it to: oed_rules@employ.oregon.gov The deadline for comments is September 4, 2025.
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