Oregon has enacted legislation (House Bill 4127), which adds notice and recordkeeping requirements surrounding production quotas for warehouse workers. House Bill 4127 took effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
The Details
Under the law, a covered employer is one that directly or indirectly (through an agent or other means such as through third-party services, temporary services, staffing agency or any other similar entity) employs or exercises control over the wages, hours or working conditions of:
Note: The law does not cover an employer with employees under a collective bargaining agreement that has performance evaluation metrics that may be reviewed and negotiated under the agreement and provides for rights to request records that are substantially equivalent to the rights under House Bill 4127.
The law defines a quota as a work standard that occurs during a defined period of time, where an employee (excluding a driver or courier to or from the warehouse distribution center) may suffer an adverse employment action when they fail to complete an assigned or required standard to:
- Perform at a specified productivity or speed;
- Perform a quantified number of tasks; or
- Handle or produce a quantified number of materials.
Employer Documentation Requirements
The law requires a covered employer to provide each employee with written documentation that summarizes any applicable employee quota. The documentation must:
- Be in the language the employer regularly uses to communicate with the employee;
- Have the quantified number of tasks to be performed or materials to be produced or handled, within a defined time period; and
- Include a description of the potential consequences, including adverse employment actions, that an employee may face for failing to meet the quota.
- Be provided:
Note: An employer may not take an adverse employment action against an employee who fails to meet a quota when the employee did not receive the required written documentation.
Employee Record Requests
Under the law, an employee who believes they were disciplined for failing to meet a quota may request related records from their employer. A covered employer that uses a quota must provide these records free of charge and as soon as practical upon request of a current or former employee within 21 calendar days from the date of the request.
The written documentation must detail the following:
- The quantified number of tasks to be performed or materials to be produced or handled within a defined time period;
- A description of the potential consequences, including any adverse employment actions, that an employee may face as a result of their failure to meet the applicable quota; and
- Their work speed data for the 90 days immediately preceding their request (current employees) or their most recent separation from employment (former employees). A former employee may request their records within three years of separation from their employment.
Work speed data includes information that is collected or maintained by an employer for purposes of evaluating an employee’s performance regarding meeting an applicable employee quota, including:
- The quantity of tasks performed, and quantity of items or materials handled or produced;
- The rate or speed at which the employee performs assigned tasks;
- Measurements or metrics of employee performance related to an applicable quota; and
- Time that is categorized as performing tasks or not performing tasks.
Work speed data does not include data or information that does not relate to the performance of a quota, such as qualitative performance assessments, personnel records and required itemized wage statements.
Next Steps
Covered employers with quotas for warehouse workers should review the documentation and request requirements under the law and train supervisors.