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Last updated on: September 1st, 2023
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
Oregon’s minimum wage laws require employers to compensate employees for all hours worked. Hours worked is defined as all hours an employee is employed by and required to give to his or her employer and includes all time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace and all time the employee is suffered or permitted to work. Hours worked include work time as defined in Oregon’s minimum wage law.
A ‘workweek’ is a regularly recurring period of seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day and hour the employer chooses as long as it repeats on a regular basis. The employer´s workweek is not necessarily the same as an individual employee´s work schedule. Pay periods may be established for any period not exceeding 35 days, but overtime must be calculated based on a recurring, seven-day workweek. If a workweek overlaps two pay periods, pay any overtime due for that workweek at the end of the second pay period (when the total hours worked for the workweek are known). The required overtime pay is 1.5 times the hourly rate for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. Overtime is calculated based on hours actually worked, and your employee worked only 35 hours during the workweek.
Recording Requirement
Every employer required by ORS 653.025 or by any rule, order or permit issued under ORS 653.030 to pay a minimum wage to any of the employer’s employees shall make and keep available to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries for not less than two years, a record or records containing: (a) The name, address, and occupation of each of the employer’s employees. (b) The actual hours worked each week and each pay period by each employee. (c) Such other information as the commissioner prescribes by the commissioner’s rules if necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of ORS 653.010 to 653.261 or of the rules and orders issued thereunder.
Work Schedule – Effective July 1, 2020
An employer shall provide an employee with a work schedule in writing at least seven calendar days before the first day of the work schedule. The employer shall post the written work schedule in a conspicuous and accessible location, in English and in the language the employer typically uses to communicate with the employees. The employer shall provide a written work schedule that runs through the last date of the posted work schedule in effect at the time of delivery to:
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- A new employee on or before the employee’s first day of work; or
- An existing employee on the employee’s first day of work after a leave of absence.
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The written work schedule shall include all work shifts and on-call shifts for the work period. If the employer requests changes to the written work schedule after the advance notice required, the employer shall provide the employee with timely notice of the change by in-person conversation, telephone call, electronic mail, text message, or another accessible electronic or written format; and the employee may decline any work shifts not included in the employee’s written work schedule.
At any time after the advance notice of the written work schedule required in this section, an employee may request in writing that the employer add the employee to one or more work shifts or on-call work shifts. Any changes to the employee’s written work schedule resulting from such employee-requested work schedule changes are not subject to the advance notice requirements of this section.
Overtime
Employees must be paid 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for any time worked over 40 hours a week or, for domestic workers residing in the home of the employer, over 44 hours a week.
Breaks
Paid rest periods of at least 10 minutes for adults (15 minutes for minors) must be provided during each four-hour work period or a major part of four hours worked. (There are narrow exceptions for adult employees working alone in retail/service establishments.) With the exception of certain tipped food and beverage service workers, meal and rest periods may not be waived or used to adjust working hours; however, meal and rest period provisions may be modified by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
Meal and rest breaks must be provided to employees for hours worked as follows:
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- For 2 hours or less: no meal or rest breaks;
- From 2 hours 1 minute to 5 hours 59 minutes: no meal break, 1 rest break;
- For 6 hours: 1 meal break, 1 rest break;
- From 6 hours 1 minute to 10 hours: 1 meal break, 2 rest breaks;
- From 10 hours 1 minute to 13 hours 59 minutes; 1 meal break, 3 rest breaks;
- For 14 hours; 2 meal breaks, 3 rest breaks;
- From 14 hours 1 minute to 18 hours; 2 meal breaks, 4 rest breaks;
- From 18 hours 1 minute to 21 hours 59 minutes; 2 meal breaks, 5 rest breaks;
- For 22 hours; 3 meal breaks, 5 rest breaks; and
- From 22 hours 1 minute to 24 hours; 3 meal breaks, 6 rest breaks.
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Breast Feeding Break
Previously, Oregon required employers to provide a fixed, 30-minute break for this purpose, every four hours an employee worked. Effective September 29, 2019, employers must provide an employee with a “reasonable rest period to express milk each time the employee has a need” to do so until the employee’s child’s age reaches 18 months. The law includes an exemption for undue hardship, but it applies only to employers with 10 or fewer employees.
If an employee takes unpaid rest periods, the employer may allow the employee to work before or after her normal shift to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid rest periods. If the employee does not work to make up the amount of time used during the unpaid rest periods, the employer is not required to compensate the employee for that time. An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a location, other than a public restroom or toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee’s work area for the employee to express milk in private. The location may include but is not limited to the employee’s work area if the work area meets the requirements or room connected to a public restroom, such as a lounge if the room allows the employee to express milk in private or a childcare facility in close proximity to the employee’s work location where the employee can express milk in private.
An employer may allow an employee to temporarily change job duties if the employee’s regular job duties do not allow her to express milk. This applies only to an employer whose employee is expressing milk for her child 18 months of age or younger. This applies only to employers who employ 25 or more employees in the State of Oregon for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the year in which the rest periods are to be taken or in the year immediately preceding the year in which the rest periods are to be taken.
Public Holidays
Overtime is generally required to be paid only after an employee works more than 40 hours in one week, regardless of whether or not a holiday occurs in the workweek. Holiday pay is subject to the policy of the employer.
Annual Leave
Vacation pay, holiday pay, bonuses, sick leave and severance pay are examples of wage agreements which may be made between employers and employees as a part of the employee´s total compensation. There is no requirement to offer these benefits. Your employer is, however, required to honor any established policy or agreement relating to the payment of benefits such as accrued vacation or severance pay upon termination. If you qualify for payment of benefits under the employer´s policy, you should be paid for these upon termination.
Special Leave
Employees are entitled to use sick time for the following purposes:
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- To care for the employee or the employee’s family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or need for preventive medical care; or
- To care for an infant or newly adopted child under 18 years of age, or for a newly placed foster child under 18 years of age, or for an adopted or foster child older than 18 years of age if the child is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability, completed within 12 months after birth or placement of the child; or
- To recover from or seek treatment for a health condition of the employee that renders the employee unable to perform at least one of the essential functions of the employee’s regular position; or
- Absences associated with the death of a family member for Attending the funeral or alternative to a funeral of the family member; or
- Absences related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking; or
- In the event of a public health emergency; or
- To donate accrued sick time to another employee if the other employee uses the donated sick time for an authorized purpose and the employer has a policy that allows an employee to donate sick time to a co-worker.
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Employees are eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave benefit per year in any combination of family, medical, and safe leave. The amount of available OR PFML benefits for medical leave shall increase to 14 weeks per benefit year if the employee experiences a serious health condition related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition, including but not limited to lactation.
Employer Coverage: If an employer has 25 or more employees, then the employer is required to contribute to Oregon PFML funding. Employers with less than 25 employees are not required to contribute to funding the state program, but employers must still collect and submit employee contributions.
Eligible employees are entitled to the following types of protected leave:
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- Medical Leave to care for an employee’s own serious health condition.
- Family Leaves for: (1) the birth of a child; (2) bonding with a child in the first year after birth, or after adoption placement or foster care placement; or (3) caring for a defined family member with a serious health condition.
- Safe Leave to seek medical, legal, or law enforcement assistance for an employee or their minor child or dependent related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking.
Reasonable Notice to Employer: An employer may require an eligible employee to give the employer written notice including an explanation for the reason the leave is requested at least 30 days before starting a period of family leave, medical leave, or safe leave.
If the leave is not foreseeable, the employee will be required to give oral notice to the employer within 24 hours of the commencement of the leave and must provide written notice within 3 days after the commencement of the leave.
Employees may take leave in increments of a full workweek, or by workdays.
Both state and federal law requires certain employers to provide family leave to their employees; the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and the Oregon Military Family Leave Act (OMFLA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). To be eligible for OFLA parental leave only, employees must be on the job at least 180 days.
For all other OFLA leave benefits, workers must be employed at least 180 days and also work at least an average of 25 hours a week during the 180 days before leave begins. OMFLA requires covered employers to grant leave to employees who have worked an average of at least 20 hours per week, but the law does not specify a period of time for applying the average, nor does it require any particular length of service as do OFLA (180 days) and FMLA (12 months). To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months (not necessarily consecutive) and during the 12 months immediately preceding the leave must have worked at least 1,250 hours. Also, the employer must have 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the employee’s worksite for the employee to be FMLA eligible.
Although there are a few exceptions, OFLA and FMLA generally provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year and OMFLA provides for 14 days of unpaid leave per deployment for the following purposes:
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- For the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child (parental leave); or
- To care for a family member with a serious health condition or the employee´s own serious health condition (serious health condition leave); or
- For pregnancy disability or prenatal care (pregnancy disability leave); or
- To care for a sick child who does not have a serious health condition, but requires home care, known as sick child leave (OFLA only); or
- To care for a seriously ill or injured service member or veteran (26 weeks) (FMLA only); or
- Because of a “qualifying exigency” arising out of a family member being on or called to active military duty (FMLA only); or
- Because of a spouse or same-gender domestic partner being called to or on leave from active military duty (OMFLA only);
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Employers with 25 or more employees in Oregon must provide eligible employees with up to 14 days of unpaid protected military family leave when an employee’s spouse or same-sex domestic partner is called to active duty or has impending leave from deployment during a period of military conflict. To be eligible, an employee must have been employed for 180 days immediately preceding the leave and have worked at least an average of 25 hours per week during the 180-day period.
Leave taken under the OMFLA may be included in the total amount of leave authorized under the OFLA if the employee is also eligible for OFLA leave. Employers with 50 or more employees are also subject to the FMLA. Where an employee’s need for OMFLA leave is also covered by the FMLA’s Qualifying Exigency entitlements, the employer may run OMFLA and FMLA leave concurrently.
Employers must allow employees to take unpaid leave to respond to a summons for jury duty. An employer may not require an employee to use vacation, sick, or annual leave for time spent responding to a jury summons. An employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, or intimidate any employee due to the employee’s service or scheduled service as a juror.
Employees who are volunteer firefighters must be granted unpaid time off from work to perform their volunteer duties. An employee returning from volunteer service must be reinstated to his or her position or an equivalent position without loss of seniority, vacation, sick leave, service credits under a pension plan, or any other benefits he or she earned at the time of leave.
An employer must allow an employee who is a search and rescue volunteer to take unpaid leave from work to participate in search and rescue activities. The employee must be reinstated to his or her position or an equivalent position without loss of seniority, vacation, sick leave, service credits under a pension plan, or any other benefits the employee had earned at the time of the leave.
All public and private employees are entitled to paid leave that does not exceed the amount of already accrued paid leave or 40 work hours, whichever is less. §659A.312.
An employer must grant an unpaid leave of absence to an employee who is called to active service as a member of the state-organized militia or as a member of another state’s organized militia. At the end of the employee’s leave for active state service, the employee must: • Resume regular employment within seven calendar days; and • Be reinstated to his or her position or an equivalent position without the loss of seniority, vacation, sick leave, service credits under a pension plan or any other benefits the employee earned at the time of the leave.
Employers with six or more employees in Oregon during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the year must grant eligible employees unpaid time off from work to address domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking. Eligible employees include victims of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, or the parent or guardian of a minor child who is a victim of those crimes. An employer must grant an eligible employee reasonable time off from work (including intermittent and reduced schedule leave) for the following purposes as a result of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking:
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- To seek legal or law enforcement assistance, including protective order proceedings or other legal proceedings;
- To seek medical treatment for injuries to the employee or the employee’s minor child or dependent;
- To obtain counseling from a licensed mental health professional;
- To obtain services from a victim services provider; or
- To relocate or take steps to secure an existing home to ensure the health and safety of the employee or the employee’s minor child or dependent.
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Accommodations for Pregnancy-Related Conditions
The Oregon Family Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of protected leave to eligible employees of covered employers for quality conditions. In the case of pregnancy disability, an employee may also qualify for up to an additional 12 weeks of leave. Under HB 2341, employers with 6 or more employees will also need to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with pregnancy-related conditions. Specifically, HB 2341 makes it unlawful for an employer to:
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- Disallow employment opportunities to an applicant or employee based on the need to make reasonable accommodation to the known limitations relating to pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition, including but not limited to lactation;
- Fail or reject to make reasonable accommodation to these known limitations, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship;
- Take an adverse employment action or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against an applicant or an employee, with respect to hiring or tenure, or any other term or condition of employment, because the applicant or employee has inquired about, requested or used a reasonable accommodation;
- Require an applicant or an employee to accept a reasonable accommodation that is unnecessary to perform the essential duties of the job or to accept a reasonable accommodation if the applicant or employee does not have a known limitation; or
- Require an employee to take family leave, or any other leave if the employer can make reasonable accommodation to the known limitations.
Employers also will need to post signs in a conspicuous and accessible location informing employees of these new discrimination protections and their right to reasonable accommodation for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, and pregnancy-related medical conditions, including but not limited to lactation. The law becomes effective on January 1, 2020.
