Oregon Amends Its Family Leave and Paid Leave Laws

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Patricia Tsipras

June 26, 2024

The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), which became effective in 2005, provides employees with unpaid job-protected leave for various family or medical reasons.  Then, in 2019, Oregon created Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) – an insurance program – to provide employees with paid time off for various family or medical reasons.  PLO benefits became available to Oregon employees in September 2023.  Many PLO benefits cover absences that the OFLA also covers.

Effective July 1, 2024, Oregon amended the OFLA and PLO to better align the two overlapping leave of absence laws.  See 2024 Ore. SB 1515.

The Amendments Reduce Overlap
Under the new laws, leaves of absence for bonding with a baby or for an employee’s own or their family member’s serious health condition will be covered only by PLO.  Such leaves also may be covered under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, but, after July 1, 2024, will not be covered by the OFLA.

The OFLA will cover only three types of leave:

• Sick child leave: To care for a child with an illness, injury, or condition that requires home care.  It also may be used to provide care for a child when a school or childcare center is closed due to a public health emergency.
• Bereavement leave: Up to two weeks to deal with the death of a family member, including (1) attending the funeral or alternative to a funeral; (2) making funeral or memorial arrangements; and (3) grieving the death of a family member.  Bereavement leave is limited to two weeks per incident and cannot exceed four weeks in a one-year period.
• Pregnancy disability leave: Can be taken before birth for prenatal care or after childbirth for recovery.

Although the amendments no longer permit PLO and OFLA leaves to run concurrently and seek to reduce leave stacking, once an employee exhausts their PLO entitlement, additional (though unpaid) leave under the OFLA may be available.  For example, if an employee requires leave for a sick child and already has used 12 weeks of PLO, they may be entitled to 12 weeks of leave under the OFLA.

The Amendments Allow an Employee to Top Off PLO Benefits with Accrued Paid Time Off
Additionally, Oregon amended PLO to allow employees to add to their PLO benefits any of their accrued paid time off (PTO), thereby replacing up to 100% of their wages.  Employers retain discretion to allow employees to use accrued paid time off to exceed 100% of their wages.

The Amendments Resolve a Conflict with Oregon’s Predictive Scheduling Law
The amendments further address a conflict with Oregon’s predictive scheduling law.  The predictive scheduling law require employers with at least 500 employees worldwide in the retail, hospitality, or food services industry to set schedules for employees 14 days in advance, including for employees who cover for colleagues on a leave of absence.  The amended law clarifies that employers will not be subject to penalties if an employee’s schedule must be changed to accommodate another employee’s leave of absence or return from such absence if an employee fails to give 14-days’ advance notice of their need for leave or if the employee returns to work without giving 14-days’ advance notice.

Employer Takeaways
The amendments hopefully will lessen the burden of administering leave in Oregon.  Oregon employers should update their policies and practices to comply with the amendments and seek counsel with any questions.

* Special thanks to Ava Petrellese, our paralegal, for her contributions to this article. 

The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania.  This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Oregon, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist.  Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.