69th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--1997 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 2408
A-Engrossed
House Bill 2408
Ordered by the House March 25
Including House Amendments dated March 25
Sponsored by Representative LEHMAN
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
Defines employer to include professional placement
services { + , professional employment organizations + } and
temporary employment agencies for purposes of JOBS Plus Program.
{ +
Requires three-party agreement between organization where JOBS
Plus participant has been placed, State of Oregon and any
placement service or employment organization acting as employer
which provides that JOBS Plus reimbursements be credited to
organization where participant has been placed. + }
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to the JOBS Plus Program; amending ORS 411.892.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 411.892 is amended to read:
411.892. (1)(a) All employers, including public and private
sector employers within the State of Oregon, are eligible to
participate in the JOBS Plus Program. The Adult and Family
Services Division of the Department of Human Resources shall
adopt by rule a method to disqualify employers from participating
in the program. No employer is required to participate in the
JOBS Plus Program. In the event that there are unassigned
participants whom no employer desires to utilize, the
participants may be assigned to work for a public agency.
(b) The maximum number of program participants that any
employer is authorized to receive at any one time shall not
exceed 10 percent of the total number of the employer's
employees. However, each employer may receive one participant.
The Assistant Director for Adult and Family Services may waive
the limit in special circumstances.
(c) The Department of Human Resources by rule shall establish
criteria for excluding employers from participation for failure
to abide by program requirements, showing a pattern of
terminating participants prior to the completion of training or
other demonstrated unwillingness to comply with the stated intent
of the program.
(2) The department shall ensure that jobs made available to
program participants shall:
(a) Not require work in excess of 40 hours per week;
(b) Be in conformity with section 3304(a)(5) of the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act;
(c) Not be used to displace regular employees or to fill
unfilled positions previously established; and
(d) Not pay a wage that is substantially less than the wage
paid for similar jobs in the local economy with appropriate
adjustments for experience and training.
(3)(a) Eligibility for the program shall be limited to
residents who are:
(A) Adults and caretaker relatives who are receiving aid to
dependent children benefits;
(B) Adult food stamp program recipients except as described in
subsection (5)(b) of this section;
(C) Unemployment compensation recipients; and
(D) Unemployed noncaretaker parents of children who are
receiving aid to dependent children benefits.
(b) In addition to those residents eligible for the program
under paragraph (a) of this subsection, additional residents who
are seeking employment may be eligible for the program if there
are legislatively allocated funds available from the savings
attributable to the program in the Unemployment Compensation
Trust Fund or in the aid to dependent children budget of the
Adult and Family Services Division.
(4)(a) Individuals desiring work through the program shall
contact the nearest Adult and Family Services Division office
serving the county in which they reside if they are aid to
dependent children program or food stamp program applicants or
recipients. Unemployment insurance applicants or recipients or
those seeking employment may gain access to the program through
their local Employment Department office.
(b) With the assistance of the local JOBS Plus Implementation
Councils and the JOBS Plus Advisory Board, the Department of
Human Resources shall develop a job inventory of sufficient size
to accommodate all of the participants who desire to work in the
program. In consultation with the participant, the Department of
Human Resources shall try to match the profile of each
participant with the needs of an employer when assigning a
participant to work with the employer.
(c) Either the employer or the participant may terminate the
assignment by contacting the appropriate department office. In
such event, the department shall reassess the needs of the
participant and assign the participant to another JOBS Plus
Program placement or another JOBS Plus Program component and, at
the employer's request, provide the employer with another
participant.
(d)(A) If after four months in a placement, a participant has
not been hired for an unsubsidized position, the employer shall
allow the worker to undertake eight hours of job search per week.
Participating employers shall consider such time as hours worked
for the purposes of paying wages.
(B) If after six months in a placement, a participant has not
been hired for an unsubsidized position, the placement shall be
terminated, and the caseworker shall reassess the participant's
employment development plan.
(e) The Adult and Family Services Division may pay placement
and barrier removal payments to aid to dependent children and
food stamp program participants as necessary to enable
participation in the JOBS Plus Program.
(f) The department shall accept eligible volunteers into the
program prior to mandating program participation by eligible
persons.
(5)(a) Assignment of participants to available jobs shall be
based on a preference schedule developed by the Department of
Human Resources and the Employment Department. Any aid to
dependent children recipient or food stamp recipient may
volunteer for the program.
(b) The following individuals shall not be required to
participate in the program:
(A) Aid to dependent children and food stamp recipients who are
eligible for Supplemental Security Income benefits or other
ongoing state or federal maintenance benefits based on age or
disability.
(B) Food stamp applicants or recipients who are employed
full-time or are college students eligible for food stamps and
enrolled full-time in a community college or an institution of
higher education, or enrolled half-time in a community college or
an institution of higher education and working at least 20 hours
per week.
(C) Teenage parents who remain in high school if progressing
toward a diploma. Teenage parents not in school are eligible for
the JOBS Plus Program.
(c) The Department of Human Resources shall provide life skills
classes and opportunities to achieve General Educational
Development certificates to appropriate participants in
conjunction with working in the JOBS Plus Program.
(d) Aid to dependent children and food stamp benefits shall be
suspended at the end of the calendar month in which an employer
makes the first wage payment to a participant who is a custodial
parent in a family that receives aid to dependent children or to
any adult member of a household receiving food stamps. Failure of
the participant to cooperate with the requirements of the JOBS
Plus Program may result in the participant's removal, in
accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Human
Resources, from the JOBS Plus Program and suspension of the
participant's aid to dependent children grant and food stamp
allotment. An aid to dependent children and food stamp recipient
who has been removed from the program for failing to cooperate
shall be eligible to reapply to participate in the program and
shall have eligibility for program services determined without
regard to the length of time the person was not participating
following removal.
(6)(a) Employers shall pay all participating individuals at
least the hourly rate of the Oregon minimum wage.
(b) Sick leave, holiday and vacation absences shall conform to
the individual employer's rules for temporary employees.
(c) Group health insurance benefits shall be provided by the
employer to program participants if, and to the extent that,
state or federal law requires the employer to provide such
benefits.
(d) All persons participating in the JOBS Plus Program shall be
considered to be temporary employees of the individual employer
providing the work and shall be entitled only to benefits
required by state or federal law.
(e) Employers shall provide workers' compensation coverage for
each JOBS Plus Program participant.
(7) In the event that the net monthly full-time wage paid to a
participant would be less than the level of income from the aid
to dependent children program and the food stamp benefit amount
equivalent that the participant would otherwise receive, the
department shall determine and pay a supplemental payment as
necessary to provide the participant with that level of net
income. The department shall determine and pay in advance
supplemental payments to participants on a monthly basis as
necessary to ensure equivalent net program wages. Participants
shall be compensated only for time worked.
(8) In addition to and not in lieu of the payments provided for
under subsections (6) and (7) of this section, participants shall
be entitled to retain the full child support payments collected
by the department.
(9) Program participants who are eligible for federally and
state funded medical assistance at the time they enter the
program shall remain eligible as long as they continue to
participate in the program. In conformity with existing state day
care program regulations, child day care shall be provided for
all program participants who require it.
(10) JOBS Plus Program employers shall:
(a) Endeavor to make JOBS Plus Program placements positive
learning and training experiences;
(b) Maintain health, safety and working conditions at or above
levels generally acceptable in the industry and no less than that
of comparable jobs of the employer;
(c) Provide on-the-job training to the degree necessary for the
participants to perform their duties;
(d) Recruit volunteer mentors from among their regular
employees to assist the participants in becoming oriented to work
and the workplace; and
(e) Sign an agreement to abide by all requirements of the
program, including the requirement that the program not supplant
existing jobs. All agreements shall include provisions noting the
employer's responsibility to repay reimbursements in the event
the employer violates program rules. { + When a professional
placement service, professional employment organization or
temporary employment agency is acting as an employer pursuant to
subsection (13) of this section, agreements under this paragraph
shall require a three-party agreement between the professional
placement service, professional employment organization or
temporary employment agency, the organization where the
participant has been placed to perform services and the State of
Oregon. The three-party agreement shall include provisions
requiring that all JOBS Plus reimbursements received by the
professional placement service, professional employment
organization or temporary employment agency be credited to the
organization where the participant has been placed to perform
services. + }
(11) Program participant wages shall be subject to federal and
state income taxes, social security taxes and unemployment
insurance tax or reimbursement as applicable under ORS chapter
657, which shall be withheld and paid in accordance with state
and federal law. Supplemental payments made pursuant to
subsection (7) of this section shall not be subject to state
income taxes under ORS chapter 316 and, to the extent allowed by
federal law, shall not be subject to federal income taxes and
social security taxes.
(12)(a) The department shall reimburse employers for the
employers' share of social security, unemployment insurance and
workers' compensation premiums paid on behalf of program
participants, as well as the minimum wage earnings paid to
program participants by the employer.
(b) If the department finds that an employer has violated any
of the rules of the JOBS Plus Program, the department:
(A) Shall withhold any amounts due to employers under paragraph
(a) of this subsection.
(B) May seek repayment of any amounts paid to employers under
paragraph (a) of this subsection.
{ + (13) For purposes of this section, 'employer' shall
include professional placement services, professional employment
organizations and temporary employment agencies. + }
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