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Measure would align BOLI complaint timeline with court statute-of-limitations; hearing carried over
Summary
House Bill 2957A would prevent employers from forcing employees to shorten statute-of-limitations periods for claims enforced by BOLI and would set deadlines for BOLI to issue notices and for subsequent court filings.
House Bill 2957A would make it unlawful for employers to require employees to shorten the statute of limitations for claims that the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) enforces and would set time limits for BOLI to issue a notice of rights and for complainants to file a civil action after agency action.
Representative Nelson told the committee the bill responds to confusion about timelines: under current practice a complainant who files with BOLI has the statutory filing clock start at the time of the BOLI filing, whereas a court filing uses the date of the underlying incident. Nelson said that discrepancy has discouraged some people from using BOLI because the BOLI process can take up to a year and, if dismissed, a claim might then be time-barred for court filing.
Opponents including the National Federation of Independent Business warned that eliminating the 90-day window to file in court after a BOLI dismissal would allow private attorneys to use BOLI investigations as taxpayer-funded fact-finding that could later be used in private litigation. NFIB’s state director said small businesses lack capacity to defend long investigations and asked the committee to oppose HB 2957A on those grounds.
The committee heard initial pro and con testimony on May 8 and paused the hearing due to time; the chair carried the item over to the committee’s next meeting. Witnesses and committee members requested additional record materials and cross-examination; no final committee action was taken at this meeting.
