Oregon Family Leave Act

If your employer has 25 or more employees, you could qualify for protected leave under the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA). That means you are protected when taking time off to take care of yourself when you are pregnant, to care for your child, or to grieve the death of a family member.

OFLA is one of several laws that provide job-protected time off. (This chart summarizes the most common leaves available to Oregon employees, including OFLA.)

Almost all Oregon employees get sick time, and Paid Leave Oregon provides most Oregon employees with wage replacement benefits and job-protected time off for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious illness (your own or that of a family member), or if you or your minor child or dependent experience sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, bias, or stalking.

In addition, employees who work for larger employers can qualify for protected leave under OFLA or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Although OFLA leave is unpaid (unless you or your employer also apply vacation, sick, or other paid leave benefits), OFLA will protect your job if you need to take time off for qualifying reasons.

Qualifying reasons for OFLA are pregnancy disability leave, bereavement leave, and sick child leave.

Some leave events qualify for both Paid Leave Oregon and for OFLA, but the two leaves do not apply at the same time. Paid Leave Oregon does not cover leave for less than a full day, but OFLA does. So read on to make sure you understand your rights under OFLA.

If you think your employer is violating this law, you can make an employment discrimination complaint or contact us at boli_help@boli.oregon.gov.

OFLA leave entitlements

OFLA provides protected time off to eligible employees for the following reasons:

• Sick child leave for the employee to care for their child because of an injury, illness, or condition that requires home care. Sick child leave includes both serious and non-serious health conditions (OFLA sick child leave is in addition to family leave for a child's serious health condition under Paid Leave Oregon). Sick child leave is also available for school and childcare closures in conjunction with public health emergencies. Note: For purposes of sick child leave, the child must be either under the age of 18 or an adult dependent child substantially limited by a physical or mental impairment.
  
• Bereavement leave is available within 60 days after an employee learns of the death of a family member
  
• Pregnancy disability for the employee’s own pregnancy-related incapacity before or after the birth of the child or for prenatal care 
  
• Military family leave — up to 14 days per deployment — continues to count against available OFLA.
  

OFLA leave is capped at 12 weeks for sick child leave and bereavement. Bereavement leave is further limited to two weeks per family member with a maximum of four weeks in a given leave year. 

OFLA provides up to 12 additional weeks for pregnancy disability.

OFLA protections

OFLA prohibits discrimination or retaliation against an individual with respect to hire or tenure or any other term or condition of employment because they have inquired about, submitted a request for family leave, or invoked any provision of OFLA.

While on OFLA leave, your employer must offer the same health insurance benefits as when you are working. Your employer may require you to continue to pay your share of the health insurance premiums in order to ensure coverage.

When you come back, you must be returned to your former job or any available equivalent position if your old job no longer exists.

OFLA eligibility

To be eligible, your employer must have at least 25 employees. In addition, you must have worked an average of 25 hours per week for 180 days. Once you are determined to be eligible for OFLA for one of the qualifying reasons, you remain eligible for OFLA for that qualifying reason for the remainder of your OFLA leave year. In addition, if you are determined to be eligible for OFLA pregnancy disability leave, you are eligible to take OFLA leave for any other OFLA qualifying reason during the remainder of your OFLA leave year. Likewise, an employee eligible for OFLA sick child leave or bereavement leave will not need to requalify as an eligible employee in order to take OFLA pregnancy disability leave within that OFLA leave year.

OFLA eligible employees who separate or are removed from the schedule but return to service within 180 days remain eligible for OFLA leave on their return. Also, credit for days of employment prior to a break in service must be restored when the employee is reemployed/returned to service within 180 days.

During a public health emergency, employees may become eligible for OFLA with just 30 days of employment (rather than 180) if they have worked an average of 25 hours a week in the 30 days before taking leave.

Helpful Documents

Family Leave Tracking Form 

Family Leave Tracking Form (Excel)

Template for Medical Certification OFLA only

Template for Medical Certification OFLA and FMLA

This chart summarizes the most common leaves available to Oregon employees

The law

ORS 659A.150 - 659A.186

OAR 839-009-0200 - 839-009-0320

Frequently asked questions

What does protected leave mean?

Protected leave means that you can take time off from work for certain reasons without having to worry about losing your job or being demoted. OFLA gives you the ability to take time off to care for yourself or your family for a certain amount of time. You get to continue any group health care coverage you have prior to taking leave, and your employer must return you to your job when you return from leave. In addition, OFLA prohibits discrimination or retaliation against an individual with respect to hire or tenure or any other term or condition of employment because they have inquired about, submitted a request for family leave, or invoked any provision of OFLA.

Are there other laws that provide protected family leave?

Yes! The Oregon sick leave law allows almost all Oregon employees to earn and use up to at least 40 hours of protected time to take care of themself or a family member who is sick, injured, experiencing mental illness, or needs to visit the doctor, among other qualifying reasons, including all OFLA-qualifying reasons. Employers with 10 or more employees (6 or more if they have a location in Portland) must provide sick time with pay. Employers that do not frontload at least 40 hours each year must allow accrual of at least 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Oregon's most recent leave law is Paid Leave Oregon. The Paid Leave Oregon program provides most Oregon employees with paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious illness (your own or that of a family member), or several additional reasons if you or your minor child or dependent experience sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, bias, or stalking.

In addition to OFLA, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of family leave. Though FMLA does not cover sick child leave or bereavement, FMLA does provide protected leave for the serious health condition of the employee or a specific set of family members (mostly limited to parents, spouses, children and those who are or were in an in loco parentis relationship). FMLA also provides military caregiver leave (to care for a seriously ill or wounded servicemember or veteran within 5 years of separation from service, if they became ill or wounded on active duty in the line of duty), which is also available to the next of kin of the servicemember, in addition to parents, spouses, and children. Finally, FMLA provides leave for a “qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty.” For details, see the US DOL’s factsheet.

The Oregon Military Family Leave Act (OMFLA) provides up to 14 days of protected leave per deployment to an employee who is the spouse or domestic partner of a service member (of the US Armed Forces, the National Guard, or US military reserve forces) who has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty or who has been deployed. OMFLA leave counts against an employee’s OFLA entitlement, but it remains available even if all OFLA leave has been exhausted. (Note that OMFLA eligibility requires employees work an average of just 20 hours per week rather than 25, with no minimum length of employment, so an employee who is not eligible for OFLA leave may still be eligible for OMFLA leave.)

How many weeks of OFLA leave can I take?

OFLA provides up to 12 weeks for sick child leave and bereavement each leave year. Note that bereavement leave is limited to two weeks per family member and may not exceed a maximum of four of the 12 weeks in a given leave year.

OFLA also provides up to 12 additional weeks for pregnancy disability for the employee's own pregnancy. Employees need not exhaust one bank of leave in order to draw from the other.

If an employer grants family leave for a condition that is also a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (as amended) and Oregon disability law, is there any further accommodation required once the leave period has ended?

Likely so. Employers must reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability if it does not create an undue hardship. If an employee’s family leave entitlement has been exhausted for a serious health condition that is also a disability, or if the employee returns from intermittent leave, the reasonable accommodation obligation remains. An example would be an employee who suffered permanent injuries to their back and, although able to return to work, needed special office furniture or equipment to allow them to perform the job after returning from family leave. Additional unpaid leave or an adjusted work schedule to accommodate therapy treatments may also be reasonable accommodations under the disability laws. The employer will be required to engage in a meaningful interactive process with the returning employee to identify potential accommodations, and they should document those efforts. Check out our disability accommodation toolkit for additional resources.

Which family members are covered by OFLA?

The definition of a “family member” under OFLA for bereavement includes:

• A spouse or domestic partner;
• A child of an eligible employee or the child's spouse or domestic partner;
• A parent of an eligible employee or the parent's spouse or domestic partner;
• A sibling or stepsibling of an eligible employee or the sibling's or stepsibling's spouse or domestic partner;
• A grandparent of an eligible employee or the grandparent's spouse or domestic partner;
• A grandchild of an eligible employee or the grandchild's spouse or domestic partner;
• Any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with an eligible employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.

For purposes of sick child leave, the child of the employee must be either under the age of 18 or an adult dependent child substantially limited by a physical or mental impairment.

How does the OFLA approval process work?

OFLA is administered by employers.

Employers may generally require employees to give written notice of their need for leave — up to 30 days in advance. However, if the need for leave is unforeseen or an emergency, employers may require oral notice not later than 24 hours after beginning leave. Employers may also require written notice within three days of the employee's return to work.

Note that Oregon's sick time law also provides leave for all OFLA-qualifying absences, including sick child leave for an employee with a child whose school or place of care is closed by order of a public official. Under sick time regulations, employers may only require up to ten days' advance notice to use sick leave if the leave is foreseeable, otherwise, as much notice as is practicable. In other words, if an eligible employee takes OFLA leave and uses their accrued paid sick time concurrently, the employer may not insist on requiring the employee to give 30 days’ notice in advance.

May employers require medical verification of the need for leave?

Where appropriate, yes. An employer may request medical verification for pregnancy disability and sick child leave (apart from sick child leave for school/childcare closures in connection with a public health emergency). For sick child leave, medical verification is limited to absences requested after an employee’s third day of sick child leave. For this purpose, a day of sick child leave occurs when the employee is absent for all or part of one day. Thus, on the fourth day, whether four continuous days or parts of four separate days, an employer may require verification of the need for sick child leave

Note that Oregon's sick time law also provides leave for all OFLA-qualifying absences and does not permit medical verification until after the third consecutive day of use. Unless an employer suspects that an employee is abusing sick time or engaging in a pattern of abuse, an employer will need to hold off on OFLA verification to avoid running afoul of Oregon sick time protections. 

Keep in mind that employers must bear the out-of-pocket cost of medical verification unless a collectively bargained agreement or a state or federal statute or city or county ordinance provides otherwise.

Finally, employers may not require second opinions for OFLA leave.

Must the employer tell the employee that time off is being designated as family leave?

Yes. Once an employer becomes aware of the need for leave, OFLA generally requires employers to provide notice that the employee is eligible within five business days.

Some exceptions apply. Employers may give the employee a written request for information to verify the need for OFLA leave, such as an affirmation that bereavement leave is for a family member, within five business days of becoming aware of the need for leave. Once the employer receives the requested information, they have five business days to inform the employee of their eligibility.

In the case of medical verification, an employer may request that the employee provide medical verification prior to beginning the leave when the need is foreseeable or within 15 days when the need for leave is not foreseeable. In that event, the employer may provisionally approve OFLA leave, pending medical verification.

May employees draw on paid leaves while taking OFLA?

Yes. While wage replacement benefits under Paid Leave Oregon must be taken separately from OFLA, other paid leaves, such as PTO or Vacation, are available to an employee taking OFLA.

An employee may take any available paid sick time during OFLA.

An employer may generally determine the order of use for any other paid leave banks available to the employee, unless a collectively bargained agreement or the company policy says otherwise.

If I am covered by multiple leave laws, which law applies?

That depends. If both Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA cover the reason for leave, say for pregnancy disability or caring for a child with a serious health condition, the employee may decide to apply for either leave. They cannot be taken at the same time. Whether requesting OFLA or submitting a claim for Paid Leave Oregon, the employee should tell their employer(s) about their upcoming need for leave. (Note that employers may provisionally designate any qualifying leave as OFLA pending approval of a Paid Leave Oregon claim.)

Other leave laws can run at the same time. For example, both FMLA and OFLA would permit an employee to take pregnancy disability leave. Time taken for that event would be drawn down from both banks simultaneously.

In order to comply with two (or more) leave laws, employers may need to apply the law that is most beneficial to the employee. For example: OFLA and Oregon’s sick time law allow an employee to take leave to care for a child with an illness, injury, or condition that requires home care. Although employers may require medical verification of the need for this leave after a third use of OFLA, sick time only permits medical verification after a third consecutive scheduled day of leave. An employer here would need to hold off on verification of OFLA leaves until after a third consecutive day when the leave is also covered by the sick time law.

Can an absence due to a Workers’ Compensation claim also be counted as family leave?

Not under OFLA, unless the employee refuses a suitable offer of light duty or modified employment. Where FMLA applies and the absence qualifies as a serious health condition, FMLA could apply to a workers’ compensation absence.

Note that Paid Leave Oregon benefits also do not apply in any week in which an employee is eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits.

Editor’s note: State and federal family leave laws are intricate and complex. This information is designed to acquaint the reader with selected general topics and concepts only. Space limitations prohibit detailed treatment and nuance. For those who need a more detailed analysis of the law, we urge you to consider attending our one-day or two-day leave laws seminars or purchase a copy of our Leave Laws handbook.

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