Homeland Security’s ‘welfare’ check on Idaho migrant students raises school privacy questions
In other parts of the country, the welfare checks have resulted in children being taken out of their homes and put back into government custody
Labor
Bird flu is racing through farms, but Northwest states are rarely testing workers
Farmworker advocates, health experts say more robust monitoring needed to prevent spread of illness
Farmworker advocates say new federal rules could save lives, but Idaho AG helped block them
As guest worker program grows, so do cases of exploitation, wage theft and retaliation
Oregon report spotlights state’s struggle to enforce worker protections
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is requesting a significant budget increase to boost enforcement capability
No end in sight: Filipino fishermen still wait on abandonment case
One year after being allegedly stranded by their employer in a Westport, Wash., marina, six migrant workers still haven’t returned home to their families.
As teen employment rises in WA, so do youth labor violations
Between 2014 and 2022, complaints about working conditions for minors doubled — and one expert thinks this might be just the tip of the iceberg.
A tale of two workers: Heat deaths on the job provoke differing responses in Oregon, Idaho
One state adopted worker protections and saw deaths drop, while the other took no action
Filipino fishermen left in WA marina allege abandonment, lost pay
Fishing companies say long waits between seasons can be common, but labor experts say offshore foreign workers are “uniquely unprotected” under U.S. policies.
Bill enabling Oregon to crack down on child labor heads to Gov. Kotek’s desk
Republican critiques of increased penalties for child labor violations fails to slow momentum
Oregon House passes bill to fix law that forces state to refund child labor fines
State labor officials say bill would allow investigators to crack down on child labor violations
Oregon’s labor regulators ask for lawmakers’ help to tackle backlogs
The bottleneck of civil rights and wage claims has decreased, but workers still face long waits for service
Oregon employers rarely pay penalties for wage theft. The state wants that to change
From 2015 through 2020, employers paid just 11% of penalties in full By Kaylee Tornay / InvestigateWest
Oregon’s labor bureau failed to collect nearly $5 million in wage theft claims since 2015
Employers in industries with more undocumented and low-wage workers left the most wages and penalties unpaid.