Workforce / Employee Assistance

The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The Small Business Association (SBA) will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities. (Click Here for More Information on the CARES Act)

Layoff aversion funds are available to Oregon businesses to creatively respond to this unusual situation. Layoff aversion strategies are designed to prevent or minimize the length of unemployment resulting from layoffs. To apply, CLICK HERE.

State of Oregon Employment Department offers information about resources related to layoffs, closures, and unemployment insurance benefits.

For firms that cannot avoid layoffs, business owners should inform their employees in some form of writing that they are closing and all employees are laid off until further notice This provides the workers with documentation to claim unemployment insurance. The Oregon Office of Workforce Investment encourages businesses to file a WARN notice when they are laying off staff. The state is tracking these, so it has a sense of the scope of layoffs and can provide that information to federal agencies.  

More resources and information can be found through the Business Oregon's Small Business Resource Navigator