Many Oregon employees are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal law that provides time off work for certain qualifying conditions. But Oregon also has its own leave laws, including the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and Paid Leave Oregon, which provide their own leave entitlements to eligible employees.
Which leave law is better for employees and employers? And can a leave of absence in Oregon be covered by multiple laws at the same time?
Here’s what your HR team needs to know about OFLA and FMLA in Oregon, including how to determine eligibility for FMLA leave vs. OFLA leave.
What is FMLA in Oregon?
FMLA refers to the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal leave law that applies to some employees in Oregon. To qualify for FMLA in Oregon, an employee needs to:
- Work for a covered employer for at least 12 months
- Perform at least 1,250 hours of work in the previous 12 months
- Work at a location with at least 50 employees in a 75-mile radius
According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL.gov) a “covered employer” is a state, local, or federal government agency; a public or private school or educational agency; or a private employer with at least 50 employees in the current or previous year.
Because of the 75-mile requirement, an employee or small team working from a specific location like Portland may not be eligible for FMLA in Oregon, even if the employer has more than 50 employees working elsewhere in the state.
What Is an FMLA-Qualifying Reason for Leave?
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for any of the following reasons:
- The adoption or birth of a child
- The placement of a child in foster care
- To care for a family member with an illness or another incapacity
- To treat the employee’s own serious health condition
- Certain situations related to military service
Although FMLA doesn’t provide any paid leave benefits, it does provide job protection, which means the employee must be allowed to return to their job after taking leave.
OFLA vs. FMLA in Oregon
The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) is an Oregon employment law that covers many of the same conditions as federal family and medical leave, but it reduces the eligibility requirements significantly. OFLA applies to any employer with at least 25 employees, and employees only have to work an average of 25 hours in the prior 180 days.
OFLA also expands some of the reasons an employee can take leave:
- Employees can take bereavement leave under FMLA within 60 days of learning about the death of a child, parent, parent-in-law, domestic partner, grandparent, or nearly any family member.
- Employees can take sick child leave to care for a child experiencing a serious or non-serious health condition; FMLA only covers serious health conditions.
- Employees can take pregnancy disability leave before or after giving birth to a child; while FMLA does cover parental leave and some health conditions related to pregnancy, it doesn’t specifically cover pregnancy or prenatal care.
Several changes to the Oregon Family Leave Act came into effect on July 1, 2024, so Oregon employers should make sure they’re following the latest guidelines. Use a leave management system like Pulpstream to keep track of employee leave requests and ensure that your human resources team is always up-to-date.
Alternatives to FMLA in Oregon
One important thing to know about FMLA in Oregon is that it may apply concurrently or in addition to state leave laws. Oregon has several leave laws in addition to OFLA that may apply to some FMLA-qualifying scenarios. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Oregon Sick Time
According to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, all Oregon workers are eligible for sick time if their employer has at least 10 employees. If the employer has a Portland location, then they only need to have 6 or more employees for this law to apply.
Employees earn sick time at the rate of one hour per 30 hours of work, and can accrue a maximum of 40 hours of sick time per year. Employers can “front-load” these hours if they choose to, but they can only be used after 90 days of employment.
Although sick time is generally paid, there are a few scenarios when it may not be. For example, if an out-of-state employer has fewer than 10 employees in Oregon (6 if they have a work site in Portland), leave is “protected but not paid.”
Paid Leave Oregon
Paid Leave Oregon is a paid family leave program that offers 12 weeks of paid leave per leave year for a wide range of scenarios, including:
- Medical leave for employees with a serious medical condition.
- Safe leave for employees dealing with sexual assault or domestic violence.
- Caregiver leave for employees who need to care for a sick family member, bond with a new child, or prepare for a child’s foster placement.
Employees on paid leave in Oregon may still qualify for FMLA, in which case the leave period would count toward their FMLA leave entitlement. If not, then they may still be eligible for 12 additional weeks of unpaid leave under FMLA.
Oregon Military Family Leave
FMLA and OFLA both cover certain kinds of military leave, such as a leave of absence to take care of an ill or injured service member or to deal with a qualifying exigency.
The Oregon Military Family Leave Act (OMFLA) provides up to 14 days of unpaid leave per deployment for a military spouse or domestic partner, even if they’ve already used up all of their OFLA or FMLA leave entitlements.
3 Steps to Navigating FMLA Leave in Oregon
Because Oregon has several leave laws of its own, navigating FMLA in Oregon poses some unique challenges for Oregon employers. Here’s how to streamline the leave of absence management process and meet your obligations as an employer.
1. Understand the law.
FMLA leave is job-protected, which means that you can’t fire an employee while they’re on leave. And although it isn’t paid, an employee who qualifies for FMLA is entitled to keep their health insurance as long as they keep paying their premiums.
If you aren’t sure about your obligations, seek legal advice, or use a leave of absence automation platform to assess leave requests against multiple employment laws.
2. Store documents securely.
You may need to collect additional information to confirm an employee’s reason for leave, such as a medical certification from a health care provider. If you do, use a cloud-based platform like Pulpstream to store this information securely and keep it separate from other personnel files to comply with FMLA confidentiality rules.
3. Track leave balances.
Leave of absence tracking ensures that you provide sufficient leave to your employees without exceeding their FMLA or OFLA leave entitlements. It also helps you comply with Oregon’s sick leave law, which requires you to let employees know how much sick time they’ve accrued on a regular basis.
Make it easy for employees to check their own leave balance with a self-service portal, where they can also submit leave requests and get email or SMS updates.
Use Pulpstream to Track FMLA Leave in Oregon
Employees in Oregon may be eligible for leave under FMLA if they need to take time off for certain qualifying reasons, like the birth of a child or to care for a sick family member. Oregon law expands the list of reasons an employee can take leave, and provides paid leave and paid sick time in some scenarios. In some cases, an employee may qualify for FMLA leave and OFLA leave for the same qualifying reason.
Pulpstream helps you navigate the leave of absence and return to work process with an intuitive cloud-based platform for HR teams. Employees can submit a leave request that serves as written notice of their intent to take leave, while your HR team can track how many calendar days or work weeks of leave they’ve used up.
Pulpstream saves teams time and money and streamlines HR compliance. Request a demo today to see how!
