OregonSaves Outreach Manager Renzo Meza, right, speaks with Hermiston Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Val Hoxie on Feb. 1, 2023, at the Hermiston Community Center.

Hermiston employers and employees had an opportunity Wednesday, Feb. 1, to get answers to questions about OregonSaves and Oregon Paid Leave.

The Hermiston Chamber of Commerce collaborated with the Umatilla Electric Cooperative to invite outreach officials for the two programs to answer any questions or concerns Hermiston residents may have.

Renzo Meza, an outreach manager for OregonSaves, traveled from Salem to the Hermiston Community Center to provide information about the statewide retirement savings program.

“The driving factor behind this is that Americans are experiencing a retirement savings crisis across the country,” he said. “And we learned that workers are 15 times more likely to save for retirement if they can do so through work.”

Meza said it is hard for employees to go out and compare savings plans, and by facilitating it through a deduction in a paycheck, saving for retirement is made much easier.

He said the program is free for employers, placing no fiduciary responsibility on them. All they have to do is facilitate the program by making it an available option to employees. Any Oregon business that does not offer its own workplace retirement plans is required to facilitate OregonSaves.

When asked if an employer still needed to register for the program if they offered their own retirement savings, Meza said they don’t. However, the employer must apply for an exemption.

“For businesses that are not compliant, their information will eventually be turned over to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries,” he said.

One of the attendees asked if they needed to provide a Roth IRA through the state if they already provided one themselves and had requested an exemption from OregonSaves.

“No, employees can open up an OregonSaves account as an individual,” Meza stated.

The Q&A was streamed from the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce Facebook page. At the time of the stream, there were 58 viewers, according to chamber Executive Director Val Hoxie.

“A lot of people can’t break away from work for an hour-and-a-half for this, so having it live really works,” she said.

She added chamber events are member-related.

“But we thought it was too important of a subject not to open it up to everyone in our community,” she said.

Ami Little, chamber assistant director, agreed, saying the two programs affect everyone, employers as well as employees.

Hoxie said the chamber had been approached by a few of its members looking for information and resources in regard to OregonSaves and Oregon Paid Leave.

“Then Renzo, with OregonSaves, reached out and said he was doing this, so I thought, ‘Here’s our opportunity,’” she said.

Accompanying Meza were two others, who dropped in via Zoom, representing Oregon Paid Leave, Matt DeRosa and Meghan Wysong.

Another statewide program, Oregon Paid Leave allows workers to take paid time off for family, medical or safety leave, with up to 12 weeks of paid time off and an additional two for pregnancy-related leave.

For those 12 weeks, Hoxie asked if there were particular increments an employee could take their leave in, be it hours, days or weeks.

“Leave can be taken in increments of a day or a week,” Wysong replied. “Any individual is eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave, and up to 14 weeks for paid leave concerning pregnancy-related circumstances.”

Pairing these two programs for the Q&A was a great opportunity, according to Hoxie. She said, as time goes on, she’s sure there’ll be more information about the two programs.