Two people with experience overseeing Oregon’s workplaces are vying to lead the state’s labor law enforcement agency as it struggles to shrink a longstanding backlog of claims.
The Bureau of Labor and Industries has seen an increasing number of protections under its purview. BOLI investigates claims of wage theft, lack of worker access to breaks or bathroom facilities, and civil rights violations on the job. BOLI also runs an apprenticeship program and helps educate employers.
“There were many, many new [labor] laws passed, especially over the last 10 years,” incumbent BOLI commissioner Christina Stephenson told OPB. “Almost none of them included resources for BOLI to enforce those laws.”
The result has been Oregon workers turning to what Stephenson characterizes as an overwhelmed and understaffed agency in some of their most vulnerable moments, such as when an employer doesn’t pay agreed-upon wages or is discriminating against its workers.
The two Oregonians running for BOLI commissioner each say they can help the agency meet these challenges and better serve employees and businesses. One is Stephenson, who already has the job. Her challenger, Chris Lynch, has spent two decades working for Oregon agencies that focus on workforce issues, first at BOLI and then with the Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Stephenson won the nonpartisan seat in 2022. The May election was close enough to trigger a runoff in November of that year, and Stephenson beat Cheri Helt for the job.
“This has been the hardest job that I’ve ever had in my life,” Stephenson told OPB. “I inherited an agency that had been really chronically underfunded, chronically underinvested in. Over decades we saw the number of workers and employers going up in the state, but the number of people at BOLI to do the work to meet the needs of both of those constituencies is going down.”
Stephenson said despite those challenges, BOLI has recovered more than $17 million for Oregon workers under her leadership. The labor agency relies almost completely on funds from the state legislature. In recent sessions, its leaders lobbied successfully for an increased share of the budget, yielding dozens more positions at BOLI.
“And we have so much more to do,” Stephenson said. “That is what keeps me motivated.”
During her time as commissioner, BOLI received a scathing audit from the Oregon Secretary of State, emphasizing the need to work through the agency’s claim backlog. Stephenson agreed with the findings and committed to implementing the recommendations, and the agency has made progress in reducing the backlog of claims.
Stephenson’s challenger, Lynch, told OPB the top issue at the agency is prioritizing resources to tackle claims while being transparent about the process.
Lynch spent decades working in the private sector before becoming an intern at BOLI in 2005. He left the agency after Val Hoyle, current congresswoman and Stephenson’s predecessor, took over in 2019.
“After several months of working in that administration, I did not believe that I was any longer a good fit for the agency,” Lynch said. “I told them that I would be leaving and was lucky enough to find a job at Oregon OSHA, which I also really loved.”
Lynch said he supported Hoyle’s mission of lowering the barriers to submitting a claim at BOLI.
“Which all sounds very good, but she did not give consideration to BOLI’s capacity to handle that increased exposure and increased workload,” Lynch said.
Lynch considered running for BOLI Commissioner in 2022, but decided to back Stephenson instead. After she won the election, Lynch returned to work at BOLI under Stephenson.
“When I got there under her administration, things were as bad as I’ve ever seen in any government agency during all my time working for state government,” Lynch said. “It was so profoundly dysfunctional. Communication was almost nonexistent.”
Lynch went back to work at OSHA. He retired on April 1 of this year to run his campaign.
Stephenson told OPB she took over BOLI during a difficult time when workers felt demoralized. She defends her record on the job, saying she helped secure more funding to add around 70 positions to BOLI’s workforce. After decades of disinvestment, Stephenson said the agency is now able to focus more on internal policies.
“It does take time for all of those seeds to grow,” Stephenson said. “But I do feel like people are now starting to see the fruits of that labor.”
Lynch isn’t convinced. He vows to bring more transparency to the public as well as support for agency workers if he gets the job.
“BOLI is not going to make everybody happy,” Lynch said. “It never has, never will. At the end of every case, someone is usually pretty upset. But at least we can be open and honest and clear about how we get from A to B.”
Ballots must be postmarked by election day, Tuesday, May 19, or dropped off by 8 p.m. on election day.
