Oregon Expands Worker Protections Tied to Immigration Status

On March 31, 2026, Governor Tina Kotek signed Oregon House Bill 4111 (HB 4111) into law. The law bars the use of a party’s or witness’s immigration status as evidence in civil proceedings, subject to limited exceptions, and makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate, retaliate, or otherwise take adverse action when an employee updates
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On March 31, 2026, Governor Tina Kotek signed Oregon House Bill 4111 (HB 4111) into law. The law bars the use of a party’s or witness’s immigration status as evidence in civil proceedings, subject to limited exceptions, and makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate, retaliate, or otherwise take adverse action when an employee updates or attempts to update information after a lawful change in employment authorization documentation.

This update applies to all Oregon employers, and the law takes effect on June 5, 2026.

What Employers Need to Do

• Review and update anti-retaliation policies to ensure employees are not disciplined, terminated, or otherwise treated adversely for updating or attempting to update lawful employment authorization information.

• Train managers and human resources personnel on proper handling of lawful work authorization updates and on the need to avoid adverse action unless federal law requires it.

• Review employment practices and recordkeeping procedures so immigration-related information is not improperly considered in workplace decisions or employment disputes.

• Coordinate with legal counsel before relying on, requesting, or introducing immigration-status information in civil employment matters, unless a narrow legal exception applies.

Overview

• Oregon House Bill 4111 creates new limits on the use of immigration status in civil proceedings and adds employment protections for workers who experience a lawful change in employment authorization documentation.

• Under the law, evidence of a party’s or witness’s immigration status is generally not admissible in a civil proceeding, unless immigration status is necessary to prove a specific element of a claim or defense.

• The law makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate, retaliate, or otherwise take adverse action against an employee because the employee updates, or attempts to update, personal or employment information after a lawful change in employment authorization documentation.

• These protections are incorporated into Oregon’s employment discrimination framework under Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 659A.

• In addition, the law expands Oregon’s definition of unlawful profiling for law-enforcement purposes to include immigration status.

Why This Matters

House Bill 4111 increases employer responsibility when responding to lawful employment authorization updates. Routine administrative steps may create legal exposure if they appear retaliatory, inconsistent, or tied to a worker’s immigration-related documentation rather than to a legitimate business or legal requirement.

The law also reduces the likelihood that immigration status will be raised as leverage in civil employment disputes where it is not legally required. For employers, that means workplace decisions and litigation strategy should stay focused on lawful, documented employment issues rather than on immigration-status evidence that may be inadmissible.

Key Risks for Employers

• Taking negative employment action shortly after an employee updates work authorization information without clear, lawful, and well-documented justification.

• Allowing managers or HR personnel to treat lawful documentation updates as a trigger for discipline, termination, or other adverse treatment.

• Raising or relying on immigration-status evidence in a civil employment matter where that evidence is not legally necessary to establish a claim or defense.

• Failing to align litigation, HR, and document-handling practices with the law’s new evidentiary and retaliation limits.

Additional Information

The Oregon Legislative Information System summary states that the measure also modifies the definition of profiling for purposes of Oregon’s law-enforcement profiling requirements.

Governor Kotek’s office later described HB 4111 as part of a broader package of 2026 measures intended to strengthen protections for immigrant and refugee communities in Oregon.

Source Reference

• Oregon House Bill (HB) 4111 – Relating to immigration-related practices; and prescribing an effective date

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