Editorial: Oregonians with stolen wages may not get help

Published 5:55 am Friday, February 20, 2026

Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries says this on its website: “Oregon laws protect you at work. If your employer is doing something wrong, we can help.”

Except, often it cannot help. It has such a backlog of cases it dismisses some without even conducting an investigation.

“Due to a large increase and a significant backlog of claims, the Bureau of Labor and Industries currently does not have the resources to investigate all complaints,” the website also says.

BOLI investigates things such as alleged wage theft by an employer and civil rights violations. If it is just a wage claim without a civil rights claim or other circumstance, BOLI may dismiss the case without looking into it. Some workers can wait years for resolution of wage claims or civil rights claims.

BOLI fully acknowledges it has problems with “significant backlogs in each division, contributing to long delays; extreme scarcity: too few staff, outdated systems, overextended roles.”

Current Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson requested an audit from the Oregon Secretary of State to get better. BOLI has agreed with all the problems identified in the audit and what it must do to fix them. It has target dates for completion of many projects, such as better backlog tracking and reporting. The Oregon Legislature has provided funding for about 50 more positions. Some of those have been filled.

The backlog may still stretch into 2029.

In a presentation to legislators on Wednesday, Jessica Villator, the deputy commissioner of BOLI, said the changes the organization is making because of the audit do drive more transparency about the problem for the public and legislators. Villator said she has been talking with BOLI workers and explained the situation to them. She said she has heard people say: “I’m so glad that you told me. I thought that nobody was getting back to me.”

She said transparency is what Oregonians deserve, both to the public and to legislators about where BOLI is at with the resources it has.

We can’t quarrel with that. It does mean, for now, Oregonians who believe they have had their wages stolen may not get help.