FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Agency creates new online tool with BOLI Final Orders and Digests

[Burr, Charlie]

[cid:image002.png at 01CE0F60.8AB33340]

Commissioner Brad Avakian
Bureau of Labor & Industries


Press Release
For Immediate Release
February 20, 2013
CONTACT: Charlie Burr, (971) 673-0788 office

Agency creates new online tool with BOLI Final Orders and Digests
Labor Commissioner Avakian praises effort to create new user-friendly and accessible resource

PORTLAND-Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian today announced that the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has published all Final Orders and Digests online, making them free and accessible to the public.

All Final Orders from 1973 to present are now available on the agency's website here<http://www.oregon.gov/boli/Pages/BOLI_Final_Orders.aspx>. In addition to transferring more than 10,000 pages to the agency's website, the agency has published Digests that serve as the key to helping students, advocates and attorneys navigate the legal issues involved in the more than 600 contested cases now online.

"By publishing decades of Final Orders - and the Digests that help visitors navigate the legal issues involved - our agency is creating a new user-friendly resource for students, advocates and the legal community," said Commissioner Avakian. "My hope is that this new online tool will make our agency more accessible and transparent to the public. I greatly appreciate the work of agency staff in making this valuable tool available."

The project - spearheaded by Legal Policy Advisor Marcia Ohlemiller and Administrative Law Judge Alan McCullough - is the product of hundreds of hours of work to create a user-friendly and accessible new tool.

The updated website now includes:


  *   BOLI Contested Cases
  *   BOLI Final Orders (1973 to present)
  *   Index to BOLI Final Orders
  *   Digests to Final Orders (covering volumes 1-31)
  *   Legal Research Tips


The project involved more than just the technical issues associated with transferring hundreds of contested cases. The BOLI Digests and Legal Research Tips will help users locate both individual cases and easily navigate the legal issues involved.

"This is a proud moment for the agency," said Ohlemiller. "The Commissioner's Final Orders are the principle way the agency interprets and applies the laws we enforce. Thanks to years of collaboration between administrative law judges and commissioners, our agency can provide volumes of well-written, carefully researched and detailed Final Orders with thoughtful analysis of applicable law."

BOLI staff will continue publishing all future Final Orders and Digests so that visitors can continue to take advantage of the online resource.

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BOLI protects all Oregonians from unlawful discrimination, investigating allegations of civil rights violations in workplaces, career schools, housing and public accommodations, and enforces compliance with state laws relating to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment. The labor commissioner can issue cease and desist orders, award both economic and non-economic damages and assess civil penalties for violations of civil rights law.

For more information about BOLI's efforts to protect workplaces and the civil rights of all Oregonians, visit http://www.oregon.gov/BOLI.

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