| Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries | |
|---|---|
Great Seal of the State of Oregon |
|
| Commissioner | |
| Branch: | Executive |
| Type: | Nonpartisan |
| Selection: | Statewide election |
| Term: | 4 years |
| Authority: | Statute |
| Established: | 1918 |
| Incumbent | |
| Name: | Brad Avakian |
| Term ends: | 2009 |
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is an agency in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is headed by the Commissioner of Labor and Industries, a nonpartisan, statewide elective office. The term of office is four years.[1] The current Commissioner is Brad Avakian.
Contents |
In 1903, the Oregon Legislative Assembly created the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Inspector of Factories and Workshops in response to public concerns about the effects industrialization on society. Its head, titled Commissioner, was initially appointed by the Governor. O. P. Hoff, the initial appointee, was elected in 1906, and reelected in 1910 and 1914.[2]
Dan Gardner of Milwaukie was Commissioner from 2003–2008.[3] He resigned in March 2008 to take a job with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Washington, D.C..[3] He is the first Commissioner of BOLI to leave mid-term for another job.[4]
The Commissioner serves as chief executive of the department-level Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, chairs the State Apprenticeship and Training Council, and acts as executive secretary of the Wage and Hour Commission.[1]
He or she has enforcement responsibility for state laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, and vocational, professional and trade schools, and may initiate a “commissioner’s complaint” on behalf of victims.[1]
The Commissioner administers state laws regulating wages, hours of employment, basic working conditions, child labor and wage rates; and is responsible for licensure of certain professions and industries. Final orders in contested cases are issued by the commissioner.[1]
The Wage Security Fund that covers workers for unpaid wages in certain business closure situations, and enforcement of group-health insurance termination-notification provisions fall within the Commissioner's purview. He or she is also responsible for oversight of the state’s registered apprenticeship-training system.[1]
The following table displays a list of the eight individuals who have served as Commissioner since the office's inception, with their respective terms of office. Party affiliation is included for those individuals whose service began before the legislature made the position a nonpartisan office in 1995 (with the first nonpartisan election in 1998).[2][5]
| # | Name | Party | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O. P. Hoff | Republican | June 2, 1903 - January 6, 1919 |
| 2 | Charles H. Gram | Republican | January 6, 1919 - January 4, 1943 |
| 3 | W. E. Kimsey | Republican | January 4, 1943 - January 3, 1955 |
| 4 | Norman O. Nilsen | Democratic | January 3, 1955 - January 6, 1975 |
| 5 | Bill Stevenson | Democratic | January 6, 1975 - January 1, 1979 |
| 6 | Mary Wendy Roberts | Democrat | January 1, 1979 - January 2, 1995 |
| 7 | Jack Roberts | Republican/Nonpartisan | January 2, 1995 - January 6, 2003 |
| 8 | Dan Gardner | Nonpartisan | January 6, 2003 - April 7, 2008[6] |
| 9 | Brad Avakian | Nonpartisan | April 8, 2008 - Current |