Leave - Oregon

Paid sick leave

Oregon employers must provide for sick leave.

Jury duty

Oregon law doesn’t require employers to pay employees for jury duty. However, employers with 10 or more employees must provide health, disability, life, or other insurance coverage for an employee out on jury duty. The employee would need to elect to have such coverage continued and provide notice of the election.

If an employer pays any part of the costs of providing the coverage for the employee that should have been paid by the employee, the employer may deduct the advanced amount from the employee's pay. The total amount deducted may not exceed 10 percent of the employee's gross pay each pay period. If the employee terminates before the amount is repaid, the employer may deduct the remaining amounts from any amounts owed by the employer to the employee, or the employer may seek to recover those amounts by any other legal means.

Oregon employers may not require employees to use vacation leave, sick leave, or annual leave for time spent in jury duty. Employers must allow employees to take leave without pay during jury duty.

Voting

Oregon doesn’t have a time-off-for-voting provision.

Crime victim/criminal proceeding

Under Oregon law, employers with six or more employees (for 20 or more weeks in the calendar year in which the employee takes leave or in the immediately preceding year) must allow eligible employees to take leave to attend a criminal proceeding. To be eligible, the employee must have worked an average of more than 25 hours per week for at least 180 days immediately before the leave begins. The law applies to all employees regardless of the number of hours worked or length of employment.

The employee must be a “crime victim,” meaning that he or she “has suffered financial, social, psychological or physical harm as a result of a personal felony.” The law treats immediate family members of the person as crime victims as well and defines “immediate family” to include a spouse, domestic partner, father, mother, sibling, child, stepchild or grandparent.

The law doesn’t set a specific time limit on the amount of leave, but does say that an employer may limit the leave if it creates an undue hardship to the business, meaning “a significant difficulty and expense,” taking into consideration the size of the business and any critical need for the employee. If an employer limits the employee’s leave due to undue hardship, the law provides that the employee may notify the prosecuting attorney, who is then required to notify the court. The court must then take the employee’s work schedule into consideration when scheduling the criminal proceedings.

The law only provides for unpaid leave, unless paid leave is promised under a union contract or other employment agreement. However, eligible are permitted to use any paid accrued vacation or other paid leave. If the employee has different types of paid leave available, the employer’s policy may dictate the order in which the employee must use paid leave.

Employees must give reasonable notice of intent to take leave to attend a criminal proceeding; and copies of any notices of scheduled criminal proceedings that the employee receives from a law enforcement agency. Employers must treat any such documentation as confidential records.

The statute makes it an unlawful employment practice to deny leave to an eligible employee, or to discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce the employee because the employee takes leave to attend a criminal proceeding.

Employers must post a summary of the employee's rights to take such leave.

Bone marrow donation leave

Employers must grant already accrued paid leaves of absence to an employee who seeks to undergo a medical procedure to donate bone marrow. The total length of the leaves are to be determined by the employee, but must not exceed the amount of already accrued paid leave or 40 work hours, whichever is less, unless agreed to by the employer.

This provision applies only to employees who work an average of 20 or more hours per week.

Employers may require verification by a physician of the purpose and length of each leave requested by the employee to donate bone marrow. If there is a medical determination that the employee does not qualify as a bone marrow donor, the paid leave of absence used by the employee prior to that medical determination is not affected.

Employers must not retaliate against an employee for requesting or using accrued paid leave of absence.

Oregon Military Family Leave Act

The Oregon Military Family Leave Act provides for eligible employees to take unpaid time off for certain reasons involving a family member in the military.

Employees must have worked for an employer for an average of at least 20 hours per week. This does not include independent contractors. The employer must have at least 35 employees in the state for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current year preceding year.

During a period of military conflict, an employee who is a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, or the military reserves who has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty or who has been deployed is entitled to a total of 14 days of unpaid leave per deployment. This leave is to take place after the employee is notified of the call or order to active duty and before deployment, as well as when the military spouse is on leave from deployment.

Employees may elect to substitute accrued leave for military family leave. Leave taken under the Military Family Leave provisions is to be included in the total amount of leave under the Oregon Family Leave Act.

Employees who take leave for a military spouse are entitled to the continuation of benefits as provided in the Oregon Family Leave Act.

Employees are entitled to be restored to a position of employment as provided in the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA).

Employees must provide notice of the intention to take leave within five business days of receiving official notice of a call or order to active duty or for a leave from deployment.