Recent updates to the 1995 Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), including amendments and temporary and proposed rules, will change the way the law is administered in conjunction with the 2019 Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) program, under which Oregon employees have been receiving paid family leave benefits since September, 2023. These changes, which will take effect July 1, 2024, are intended to streamline the implementation of family leave under the two laws. A previous alert on family leave in Oregon is copied below for reference.

• Most leaves for baby bonding and for an employee’s or family member’s serious health condition will be covered only by PLO. Previously, leave under both OFLA and PLO ran concurrently for these leave types.
• Several types of leave will remain covered by OFLA:
  • Leave to care for a child’s illness or injury
  • Leave for pregnancy-related disability, before or after the birth of a child, or for prenatal care
  • Leave to care for a child whose school or childcare provider has closed due to public health emergency
  • Bereavement leave (limit of four such leaves within a 12-month period)
• OFLA and PLO will no longer run concurrently:
  • OFLA eligibility may be triggered in cases where PLO leave does not apply, such as when a sick child needs care but does not meet the definition for family member’s serious health condition.
  • OFLA may also apply, for the specified leave types, after an employee has exhausted their PLO leave eligibility. For example, an employee who has exhausted 12 weeks of PLO benefits for a pregnancy-related disability, but remains disabled, could qualify for up to an additional 12 weeks of unpaid OFLA leave.
• OFLA will temporarily provide up to two additional weeks of unpaid leave for employees to address legal processes related to adoption or foster placement of a child. Effective January 1, 2025, this will become a covered reason for paid leave under PLO.
• Employees taking PLO leave may use any accrued employer-provided leave to supplement their PLO benefits up to the level of their normal pay rate. Previously, employers had the ability to decide whether employees would be allowed to use other forms of paid leave to “top up” their PLO benefits. Employers may still determine the order in which different leave types may be used to supplement PLO.
• Employers may be able to rescind prior approval for leave if an employee’s eligibility is impacted by these changes.
  • If an employee was already approved or designated for OFLA leave that will occur on or after July 1, 2024, employers may rescind approval for the leave with written notice to the employee on or before June 1, 2024.
  • If an employee would be entitled to OFLA leave on June 30, 2024, but no longer entitled after the changes take effect, employers must provide notice to the employee as soon as practicable – but no later than June 1, 2024 – informing them that their leave will not be protected as of July 1, 2024.
  • Employers must provide employees who are designated or approved for leave previously protected by OFLA with written notice of the ability to apply for PLO benefits.  The notice must be provided along with any written notice of rescission or within no more than 14 days from the employee’s notice to the employer of the need for leave. Contact information for the leave administrator (either Paid Leave Oregon or the administrator of the employer’s approved equivalent plan) must be included in the notice.

OR Paid Leave Revisions (originally sent June 2023)

On June 7, 2023, Oregon governor Tina Kotek signed SB 999, which contained amendments aimed at aligning Paid Leave Oregon with the 1995 Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), which previously provided unpaid, job-protected family and medical leave to Oregon employees. These changes take effect on September 3, 2023 (the date Paid Leave Oregon benefits become available).

• SB 999 expands the definition of “family member” to include siblings/stepsiblings, employees’ spouses or domestic partners, and any individual with whom the employee has a family-like relationship.
• Additionally, this legislation aligns unpaid leave entitlements under OFLA with corresponding paid leave benefits under Paid Leave Oregon to ensure that the two leave entitlements will, in most cases, run concurrently.
• Paid Leave Oregon requires a “benefit year” to be determined on a rolling-forward basis beginning on the Sunday immediately preceding commencement of paid leave benefits, while OFLA previously allowed employers to define a leave year as any consecutive 12-month period. SB 999 requires employers to transition to using a rolling-forward leave year for OFLA benefits by July 1, 2024 (although they may do so sooner if they choose).
• Job protection rights differ slightly between OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon; SB 999 brings job protection rights under both laws into alignment. If an employee’s position no longer exists when they return from leave under OFLA and/or Paid Leave Oregon, they must be offered any available equivalent position with the same pay and benefits, at a job site located within 50 miles of the employee’s former job site (or nearest to the site of the employee’s former position).