Oregon has built one of the most comprehensive paid leave frameworks in the country through two distinct systems: a statewide paid sick leave law that has covered employees since 2016, and Paid Leave Oregon — a state-run paid family and medical leave insurance program that launched in September 2023. Understanding how these two systems interact is essential for both Oregon employees and employers.
Oregon's approach is notable for its layered design. The sick leave law creates a floor for everyday illness and care needs. Paid Leave Oregon then adds a separate, richer benefit for major life events — a new child, a serious health condition, or a family caregiving need. Together they represent a level of paid leave infrastructure that puts Oregon among the top five most protective states in the country.
⚖️ Oregon Paid Leave — At a Glance (2026)
Oregon Sick Leave: The Foundation
Oregon's sick leave law (ORS 653.606) requires employers with 10 or more employees to provide paid sick leave. Employers with fewer than 10 employees must provide unpaid sick leave. Portland has a slightly lower threshold: employers with 6 or more employees in Portland must provide paid sick leave.
Accrual works as follows: employees earn 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year. The leave can carry over year to year, but employers can cap the total balance at 80 hours. The 90-day waiting period applies to usage (employees accrue from day one but cannot use leave until after the first 90 days of employment).
Oregon sick leave is broadly usable — not just for the employee's own illness. It covers:
- The employee's own physical or mental illness
- Care for a family member who is ill
- Preventive medical care for the employee or a family member
- Absences related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking
- School or childcare closures due to public health emergencies
Paid Leave Oregon: State-Run Family & Medical Leave Insurance
Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) is Oregon's answer to the gap between sick leave (short-term, employer-funded) and FMLA (unpaid, job-protected). PLO is a state-administered insurance program — similar in structure to Washington's PFML or California's SDI — that provides wage replacement benefits for major qualifying events.
Employees who have earned at least $1,000 in wages during the base year are eligible. Benefits follow a sliding formula in ORS 657B.050, not a flat percentage. If your average weekly wage is at or below 65% of the state average weekly wage, Paid Leave Oregon replaces 100% of it. Above that level, you receive 65% of the state average weekly wage plus 50% of your earnings above that threshold — so the replacement rate falls gradually as pay rises. Weekly benefits are capped at 120% of the state average weekly wage, with a floor of 5% (for claims from June 28, 2026: a maximum of $1,692.16 and a minimum of $70.51). The maximum benefit period is:
- 12 weeks for family leave (bonding with a new child, caring for a seriously ill family member)
- 12 weeks for medical leave (the employee's own serious health condition)
- 14 weeks for pregnancy-related conditions including childbirth recovery
- An employee can use both family and medical leave in the same year, up to a combined maximum of 14 weeks (or 18 weeks with a pregnancy leave and family bonding combined)
Since Senate Bill 1515 took effect on July 1, 2024, ORS 657B.030(2)(a) puts the choice on the employee's side of the table: an employee "is entitled to use any accrued paid sick leave, accrued paid vacation leave or any other paid leave that is offered by the employer in addition to receiving paid family and medical leave insurance benefits… to the extent that the total combined amount of accrued paid leave and benefits received by the employee does not exceed an amount equal to the employee's full wage replacement." So the real limit is not two weeks — it is 100% of your wages. You may top PLO up to full pay as a matter of entitlement, and your employer cannot refuse. Under § 657B.030(2)(b) an employer may go further and permit the combination to exceed full wage replacement, but it is never obliged to.
There is a genuine employer power here that this guide had missed. Under ORS 657B.030(3), and subject to any agreement with the employee or a collective bargaining agreement, "the employer may determine the particular order in which accrued leave is to be used when more than one type of accrued leave" is available. So your employer may be able to say which bucket gets spent first — sick time before vacation, say — but not whether you spend one at all.
Where the same absence is also federal FMLA leave, the answer is reinforced from a second direction. DOL Opinion Letter FMLA2025-01-A (January 14, 2025) holds that where an employee "receives compensation from a state or local family or medical leave program, the FMLA substitution provision does not apply to the portion of leave that is compensated," so "neither the employee nor the employer may use the FMLA substitution provision to unilaterally require the concurrent use of employer-provided paid leave." Substitution revives only once PLO benefits stop and the remaining FMLA leave is unpaid.
PLO Contributions: Who Pays What in 2026
Paid Leave Oregon is funded through payroll contributions. For 2026, the total contribution rate is 1% of wages — the statutory ceiling; it can fall but never rise above 1% — applied to wages up to $184,500. Once your wages with one employer reach that cap in a calendar year, contributions stop for the rest of the year.
On the benefit side, Oregon recalculates the weekly minimum and maximum each year from the state average weekly wage, which was $1,410.13 for calendar year 2025. For PLO claims with benefit years beginning on or after June 28, 2026, the weekly benefit runs from a minimum of $70.51 to a maximum of $1,692.16 — up from $68.19 and $1,636.56. The benefit year is set when your claim starts, so a claim opened before that date keeps the older figures for its duration.
| Employer Size | Employee Share | Employer Share | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25+ employees | 60% of 1% = 0.60% | 40% of 1% = 0.40% | 1.00% |
| Fewer than 25 employees | 60% of 1% = 0.60% | Not required (0%) | 0.60% (employee only) |
Small employers with fewer than 25 employees do not have to pay the employer share of the premium — but their employees are still eligible for PLO benefits. Small employers can voluntarily pay the employer share if they choose. Benefits are paid directly by the state, not by the employer, so the cash flow impact on employers during leave is minimal.
Vacation and PTO Payout at Termination
Oregon does not have a statute that explicitly requires vacation payout at termination — but Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) treats accrued vacation pay as earned wages when an employer's policy promises it. In practice, BOLI will investigate and enforce wage claims for unpaid accrued vacation if the employer's policy indicated those hours would be compensated.
Use-it-or-lose-it vacation policies are permitted in Oregon, but employers must communicate them clearly and apply them consistently. A policy that says "vacation is forfeited at year-end" is legal; a policy that promises payout and then reneges is a wage violation.
Final Paycheck Deadlines in Oregon
Oregon has one of the tightest final-pay deadlines in the country, and this guide previously said nothing about it. ORS 652.140 sets three different clocks depending on how the job ends:
| How employment ends | When final wages are due |
|---|---|
| Discharged, or terminated by mutual agreement | End of the first business day after the discharge or termination |
| Quit with at least 48 hours' notice | Immediately — on the last working day |
| Quit without 48 hours' notice | Within five days excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, or at the next regularly scheduled payday — whichever comes first |
Accrued vacation counts as wages for this purpose wherever the employer's policy promises payout, so a policy-mandated payout has to arrive on the same clock as the rest of the final cheque — not whenever payroll next runs.
Portland's Slightly Different Rules
Portland was one of the first cities in the US to pass a paid sick leave ordinance (2014), which served as the model for the statewide law. Since Oregon's statewide sick leave law passed in 2016, most Portland-specific requirements have been superseded — with one key exception: the employer-size threshold is 6 employees in Portland versus 10 statewide for paid (vs. unpaid) sick leave.
Portland employers with 6–9 employees must provide paid sick leave, even though the statewide law would only require unpaid leave for that size employer outside Portland. This is a meaningful difference for small Portland businesses.
For Oregon Employers: Compliance Priorities
- ☐ Confirm whether you're subject to paid or unpaid sick leave (10+ statewide, 6+ Portland)
- ☐ Sick leave policy must clearly state accrual rate (1 hr/30 hrs), cap (40 hrs/yr), and allowable uses
- ☐ Register with Oregon's Paid Leave Oregon system and begin withholding employee contributions
- ☐ Determine whether you qualify as a 25+ employer (employer contributions required) or small employer
- ☐ If offering an equivalent plan, apply for PLO exemption through the Oregon Employment Department
- ☐ Clarify termination payout rules in handbook — ambiguous policies create BOLI wage claim exposure
- ☐ Coordinate policy for concurrent use of accrued sick leave and PLO benefits
Plan Your Oregon Leave Year
Between sick leave accrual and PLO benefits, Oregon employees have real paid leave resources. Use our free tools to track your balance and plan your time off strategically.
Open the PTO Calculator →Frequently Asked Questions
Does Oregon require paid sick leave?
Yes. Oregon's sick leave law (ORS 653.606) requires all employers with 10 or more employees (6 or more in Portland) to provide paid sick leave. Employees accrue 1 hour per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Smaller employers must provide unpaid sick leave.
What is Paid Leave Oregon?
Paid Leave Oregon is a state-run paid family and medical leave insurance program that launched September 3, 2023. It provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave (14 for pregnancy complications) for qualifying family, medical, or safe leave reasons, funded through payroll contributions from employees and employers.
Does Oregon require PTO payout at termination?
Oregon does not require payout of accrued sick leave at termination. For vacation or general PTO, Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries treats accrued vacation as earned wages when the employer's policy promises it. If your policy says accrued PTO is paid out at termination, BOLI will enforce that as a wage claim.
How much do Oregon employees and employers contribute to Paid Leave Oregon?
For 2026, the total PLO contribution rate is 1% of wages up to $184,500 — the Social Security wage base, which Oregon tracks. Employees contribute 60% of the premium; employers with 25 or more employees contribute the remaining 40%. Smaller employers are not required to pay the employer share, though their employees still receive benefits.
Can my Oregon employer make me use vacation or sick leave while I'm on Paid Leave Oregon?
No. ORS 657B.030(1) says PLO benefits "are in addition to" accrued sick time, vacation and other paid leave, and since July 1, 2024 ORS 657B.030(2)(a) makes it the employee's entitlement: you are entitled to use accrued paid leave on top of PLO benefits up to the point where the combined total equals your full wage replacement. Your employer cannot require you to spend that leave, and cannot stop you from topping up to 100% of pay. It may permit you to exceed full pay, but need not. The one thing it can control, under ORS 657B.030(3) and subject to any agreement or CBA, is the order in which multiple types of accrued leave get used. There is no two-week limit anywhere in the statute.
How quickly must an Oregon employer issue my final paycheck?
It depends how the job ended. Under ORS 652.140, if you were discharged or the job ended by mutual agreement, final wages are due by the end of the first business day after. If you quit with at least 48 hours' notice, they are due immediately on your last working day. If you quit without that notice, they are due within five days excluding weekends and holidays, or on the next regular payday, whichever comes first. Any vacation payout your employer's policy promises is part of those wages. Late payment that is wilful triggers penalty wages under ORS 652.150 — eight hours' pay per day for up to 30 days.
Can Oregon employers substitute their existing PTO for PLO benefits?
Yes. If an employer has an equivalent plan that provides the same or better benefits than PLO, they can apply for an exemption from the state program. The equivalent plan must meet all PLO benefit standards, and the exemption requires approval from the Oregon Employment Department.
Does Portland have additional paid leave requirements beyond Oregon state law?
The main Portland-specific requirement that still differs from state law is the employer-size threshold for paid (vs. unpaid) sick leave: 6 employees in Portland versus 10 statewide. Portland employers with 6–9 employees must provide paid sick leave even though they would only be required to provide unpaid leave under state law alone.
Sources
- ORS 657B.030 — Use of other paid leave benefits in addition to paid family and medical leave insurance benefits
- Oregon SB 1515 (2024, enrolled) — the amendment making accrued-leave top-up an employee entitlement capped at full wage replacement
- ORS 657B.050 — Amount of benefits (100% of wages up to 65% of the state average weekly wage, then 50% above it)
- ORS 652.140 — Payment of wages on termination of employment
- Paid Leave Oregon — weeks available, 2026 contribution rate and $184,500 wage base
- Oregon Employment Department (May 29, 2026) — 2026 minimum and maximum weekly benefit amounts
- U.S. DOL Opinion Letter FMLA2025-01-A (January 14, 2025) — FMLA substitution and state paid leave benefits