Attorney John Dudrey on Panel for Roundtable Discussion of Navigating Return to Work

Of counsel attorney John Dudrey was a panelist for a “Thought Leader Roundtable” held by the Portland Business Journal as part of its ongoing How Oregon Works series. Dudrey and the other panelists joined PBJ Publisher and President Candace Beeke for a discussion of the evolving model for employees for where they work after the pandemic—in-person, hybrid, or remote—and how their companies are adapting.

The panel addressed questions of:

• What their places of employment are doing with regard to returning to work.
• What they see as the challenges of onboarding new people who may be working all or part of the time remotely.
• What are the benefits and downsides for downtown Portland and the regional economy of continued hybrid or remote work opportunities for employees.

In response to a question about what employers should do to ensure they are complying with applicable laws and regulations, Dudrey, who practices in Stoel Rives’ Labor & Employment group, noted: “[I]f your employee was required to take a meal period working in your office, they still have to take that working at home. The definition of hours worked doesn’t change. Laws against things like discrimination and harassment apply legally the same remotely as they do in the office. Compliance is not the fun part of the work-from-home model.”

You can read the full article here.