More than four years since the passage of Oregon’s Paid Family Medical Leave Act into law, paid leave benefits will finally be available to Oregon employees starting September 3, 2023.  Applications for benefits, toolkits and quick start guides are all now available online at paidleave.oregon.gov.  Here is what employers need to know:

Benefits

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In anticipation of Paid Leave Oregon, a new paid family leave benefit for Oregon employees, the Oregon legislature recently passed a bill that creates new entitlements for Oregon employees and aligns existing law with the forthcoming paid leave benefit.  Senate Bill 999 (2023) revises the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) in two significant ways. 

The Paid Leave Oregon program commences on January 1, 2023. As an initial step, most Oregon employers must alert employees about the program and begin paying into the state insurance plan. The law requires employers post the Oregon Employment Department’s model notice at the worksite and distribute the same notice to remote workers.

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The Oregon legislature has temporarily amended Oregon’s Equal Pay Act to allow employers latitude to both encourage COVID-19 vaccinations and to attract new employees as the state emerges from COVID-19 business restrictions. Under the revised statute, when evaluating whether employees who perform work of comparable character are paid equitably, a comparison of employee compensation