Oregon bill would restore 5-year statute of limitations for workplace discrimination claims filed with BOLI

Representative Travis Nelson opened the public hearing on House Bill 2957, saying the measure would stop the Bureau of Labor and Industries’ (BOLI) administrative process from cutting short workers’ ability to file civil suits.

"HB 2957 fixes this. It ensures that workers, regardless of whether they go through BOLI or pursue civil action independently, retain the full five-year statute of limitations," Representative Travis Nelson said. "No one should be punished for seeking help from the state agency that is supposed to protect their rights."

The bill, Nelson and witnesses said, would preserve an employee’s full five-year filing window under Oregon law even if that employee first files an administrative complaint with BOLI and later receives a 90-day “right to sue” notice. Witnesses described repeated examples in which workers, particularly low-wage employees, people with disabilities, veterans, women and LGBTQ+ Oregonians, filed with BOLI and then faced a far shorter window to retain counsel and file in court.

Several labor and civil-rights advocates testified in favor. Luz Ramirez Tarin described filing with BOLI, receiving a notice of rights and then struggling to find an attorney within the 90-day period; she said she would have had five years if she had not filed with BOLI. "I do not believe it is right for someone to lose time to file their case in court because they try to seek justice by filing with BOLI like I did," Ramirez Tarin said.

Disability Rights Oregon attorney Ben Gurewitz and Basic Rights Oregon's trans justice program manager Seth Johnstone told the committee the current mismatch effectively penalizes the most vulnerable workers who rely on BOLI because they lack funds for private counsel. "This inconsistency in the law is arbitrary, unfair, and places an under-burden on workers seeking justice," Gurewitz said.

Representatives of plaintiff-side attorneys and worker legal clinics described a practical barrier: many civil plaintiffs’ practices cannot adequately investigate, prepare and file a case within 90 days after receiving a BOLI right-to-sue letter. Crystal LaRue of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association said she routinely must decline meritorious cases that arrive with the 90-day deadline because her office cannot complete the pre-filing work in that time.

Josh Nasby of the Bureau of Labor and Industries described how BOLI’s process operates and where the 90-day notices come from. "We will issue the 90-day notice at the expiration of one year [from filing] and at any point in the process when the case is dismissed," Nasby said, explaining that BOLI’s statute requires investigation timelines and that the agency issues notices at certain stages. Nasby also described a proposed technical "-1" amendment that would remove settlement as a trigger for issuing a 90-day notice.

Committee members asked about the relationship with federal law and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Witnesses and BOLI staff clarified differences: federal exhaustion rules differ from state practice and some claims may be dual-filed with EEOC and BOLI. BOLI staff said roughly one-third of recent complaints were dual-filed with the EEOC.

No formal vote was taken during the hearing. Testimony and committee questions focused on the bill’s mechanics (how and when a 90-day notice is generated) and the bill’s second section, which would bar employers from using private employment agreements to shorten statutory filing windows for claims within BOLI’s enforcement authority.

Supporters urged the committee to adopt the bill with the dash-1 technical amendment; opponents (notably employer trade groups in other hearings) have argued changes could affect settlement incentives and employer practices. The hearing record includes multiple first-person accounts of difficulty meeting the 90-day deadline and several requests for clarifying language and technical fixes.

Votes or final actions on HB 2957 were not recorded during this hearing.