Mon, 06/28/2021
If your employer in Oregon has 25 or more employees, you could qualify for protected leave under the Oregon Family Leave Act. That means you are allowed by law to take protected time off to take care of yourself or family members.
On June 8, 2021, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law a bill amending the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) to update and expand the law’s eligibility and leave provisions. The amendments give eligibility to take leave to employees reemployed after a separation or returning after a temporary work cessation within 180 days, expand eligibility and leave entitlements during public health emergencies, and remove gendered language. The OFLA amendments take effect on January 1, 2022.
The updated law adds the need to take care of a child during a public health emergency as an eligible circumstance to access OFLA. The amendments expressly codify the recent Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) rule providing that employers may not require employees to provide medical verification of the need for leave for this reason, although employers may request other verification, including: (1) the name of the child requiring home care; (2) the name of the school or child care provider that is subject to closure; (3) a statement from the employee that no other family member of the child is willing and able to care for the child; and (4) a statement that special circumstances exist that require the employee to provide home care for the child during the day, if the child is older than 14 years of age.
The updated law also lowers the threshold of days one must have worked to qualify for paid leave during a health emergency. Employees are eligible to take OFLA leave if the employer has employed them for at least 180 days immediately before the leave begins. In addition, for OFLA-qualifying reasons other than parental leave, employees must have “worked an average of at least 25 hours per week” during the 180 days immediately before the leave begins to be eligible.
The bill also ensures that a worker does not lose credit for their previous days and hours worked upon reemployment to account for changing public health risk and safety measures. The new OFLA amendments make employees reemployed after a separation from employment or returning from work after a temporary cessation of scheduled work hours, within 180 days eligible for leave in the following circumstances.
