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Last updated on: June 27th, 2024
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
Normal working hours of an employee shall not exceed more than 40 hours per week(exclusive overtime).
Employers in the manufacturing sector are required to compensate employees with a higher amount between daily or weekly overtime if an employee exceeds 10 hours in a single day and 40 hours in a workweek. Additionally, the law imposes a strict 55-hour weekly limit for most employees in the manufacturing sector.
Oregon’s minimum wage laws mandate that employers must pay employees for all hours worked. “Hours worked” encompasses any time an employee is employed by and obligated to be available to their employer. This includes all time spent on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a designated workplace, as well as any time the employee is allowed or required to work. This definition aligns with the work time standards outlined in Oregon’s minimum wage law.
A workweek is defined as any fixed and regularly recurring period of 7 consecutive workdays. A workday is defined as any fixed period of 24 consecutive hours.
Work Schedules: Employers must provide a written work schedule at least seven days in advance, posted visibly in the language used to communicate with employees. The schedule, including all shifts and on-call periods, must be given to new employees by their first day and to returning employees on their first day back. If changes are needed, employers must promptly inform employees via conversation, phone, email, or text. Employees can decline any shifts not in the original schedule. Employees can request additional shifts in writing, exempt from advance notice requirements.
Shift Scheduling– Employers must provide extra pay for changes to an employee’s work schedule without required advance notice. Employees receive one hour of pay at the regular rate if the employer adds more than 30 minutes to a shift, changes the shift’s start or end time without reducing hours, or schedules an extra shift or on-call shift.
Employees receive half their regular pay rate for each hour not worked if the employer reduces shift hours before or after the employee reports to work, changes the shift’s start or end time resulting in fewer hours, cancels the shift, or fails to ask the employee to work during a scheduled on-call shift.
Waiting Time- Employers are required to count time spent by employees waiting for work as hours worked if they are engaged to wait, meaning they are under the employer’s control and unable to use the time for themselves. However, if employees are waiting to be engaged, fully relieved from duty, and can use the time for their purposes, this time is not compensable.
On-Call time- Employers are required to count on-call time as hours worked for minimum wage and overtime purposes if employees must stay so close to the employer’s premises that they cannot use the time effectively for their purposes. Employers do not need to compensate employees for on-call time if they are not required to remain on or near the premises and only need to leave contact information.
Sleeping Time- Sleeping or other activities are counted as work hours if employees are on duty for under 24 hours. Sleep periods over eight hours are counted if interruptions prevent five continuous hours of sleep; without a sleep agreement, all sleep is counted. Employees living on-site may have some time not counted due to available free time during the day.
Travel Time– Employers do not need to count normal travel time commuting to and from home and work as hours worked, but travel beyond 30 miles for emergency or job-related purposes is considered work hours. Same-day and overnight travel exceeding 30 miles from the usual work site also counts. Employers can choose to count private vehicle travel. Time actively working during travel, like driving or attending meetings, counts as work hours, with meal or sleep breaks deductible. These rules ensure fair compensation for travel that contributes to work duties.
Meeting, Lecture, and Training Time– Employers are required to count time spent by employees at meetings, lectures, training, or similar activities unless specific criteria are met: attendance must occur outside regular work hours, be voluntary, unrelated to the employee’s job, and involve no productive work. Attendance is not voluntary if the employer mandates it under conditions impacting employment or work conditions. Training is considered job-related if it aims to enhance the employee’s current job performance, distinguishing it from training for new skills or different roles. These regulations ensure fair compensation for time spent on activities that directly contribute to job performance and productivity.
Overtime
Any work performed beyond 40 hours in a work week is considered overtime work.
Pay – An employee is entitled to premium pay at the rate of 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked excess in a workweek.
Breaks
Meal Break – Oregon employers must provide a 30-minute meal break to employees who work at least six hours. This break may be unpaid only if the employee is relieved of all duties. If the employee cannot be relieved of all duties, the employer must provide paid time to eat. An employer may provide a shorter meal break (of at least 20 minutes) if it can show that this is the industry standard or custom. However, the shorter break must be paid.
Employers must provide meal periods to employees based on the number of hours they work as follows:
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- 0 to 6 hours – 0 meal periods
- 6 to 14 hours – 1 meal period
- 14 to 22 hours – 2 meal periods
- 22 to 24 hours – 3 meal periods
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Employers must allow employees to take their meal periods according to the following time requirements:
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- If employees work 7 hours or less, the meal period must begin no earlier than the conclusion of the second hour worked and end no later than the commencement of the fifth hour of work.
- If employees work more than 7 hours, the first meal period must begin no earlier than the conclusion of the third hour worked and end no later than the commencement of the sixth hour of work.
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Rest Break – Employees in Oregon are entitled to take a paid ten-minute rest period for every four hours worked (or a major fraction thereof). The break must be approximately in the middle of the work period, if practical. This rest period is in addition to the meal period described above, and it must be taken separately. The break period can’t be added to the meal period or deducted from the beginning or the end of the employee’s shirt to reduce the total hours worked. Employers are not required to provide paid rest breaks for certain adult employees who are serving the public alone in a retail or service establishment. However, these employees must have an opportunity to use the restroom.
Daily Rest Period – An employee is entitled to a daily rest period of at least 10 consecutive hours after their previous shift or on-call period, or after a shift that spans two calendar days unless the employee requests or agrees to it.
Pay: If the employee is required to work during their rest periods, they will be entitled to receive a premium pay of at least 1.5 times their regular pay rate for each hour worked.
Breast Feeding Break – Employers must provide employees with reasonable rest periods to express milk whenever needed until the child reaches 18 months old.
Employers with 10 or fewer employees may claim an exemption due to undue hardship. If rest periods are unpaid, the employer can allow the employee to adjust their work schedule accordingly.
The employer is not obligated to compensate the employee if they do not make up for unpaid rest time. Additionally, the employer must make reasonable efforts to provide a private location near the employee’s work area for expressing milk, excluding public restrooms. For employees whose regular duties prevent them from expressing milk, employers with 25 or more employees may temporarily adjust job duties.
Work On Rest Days
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
Special Leave
Carry Forward – Employees must be able to carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick time from one year to the next. An employer may restrict the use of accrued sick time until an employee’s 91st day of employment. In addition, an employer may limit employees’ sick time accrual to 80 hours and may restrict employee use of sick time to 40 hours per year.
Usage of Leave- Sick time may be used:
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- For the employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or the employee’s need for medical diagnosis, care or treatment, or preventive medical care;
- For the care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or care for a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care or treatment, or preventive medical care;
- To care for an infant or newly adopted child;
- To deal with the death of a family member by attending the funeral, making arrangements, or grieving;
- To seek legal or law enforcement assistance to ensure the health and safety of the employee or the employee’s minor child;
- To obtain services from a victim services provider or to relocate because the employee or the employee’s minor child are victim of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking; and
- For the closure of the employee’s place of business, or the school or place of care of the employee’s child.
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Duration of Leave – 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. Employers who have employed at least one employee for at least 20 weeks in a year or in the year immediately preceding the year of coverage, or who have paid wages of at least $1,500 in any 3-month quarter in the preceding year.
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.
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- To care for a sick child (under 18 or disabled), including for a serious health condition, or to care for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed due to a public health emergency.
- Bereavement leave – which will be capped at 4 weeks per year and two weeks per family member
- Pregnancy disability leave – which will be in addition to other leave under OFLA and PLO
- Leave to manage the legal process of placing a foster child or adoption – this is a temporary, 2-week benefit per year which will be available under the OFLA from July 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024. Starting Jan. 1, 2025, leave for this reason will be covered under PLO.
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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.
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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.
