New Rules Proposed for Paid Leave Oregon

On October 29, 2026, the Oregon Employment Department published proposed rules for the Paid Leave Oregon program. These rules clarify how claims will be processed depending on the date an employee submits an application. It’s proposed that applications be processed as follows:

• PLO applications submitted more than 30 days prior to the start date of the leave will be denied. However, the employee can submit a new application within the 30 days before the start date of their leave.
• PLO applications may be submitted up to 30 days after the start of family, medical, or safe leave. How the claim is processed depends on the following factors:
  • If the entirety of the leave occurred more than 30 days before the complete application was submitted, the application will be denied.
  • If a portion of the leave occurred more than 30 days before the application was submitted, that portion will be denied.

This provides more detail than current rules, which state that applications may be submitted 30 days before or after the start of an employee’s leave.

Additionally, the rules state that documentation submitted to verify the need for leave will only be accepted if it is issued within six months before the start of leave, unless the documentation is normally issued or updated less frequently than once every six months. This is a new clarification, as the date the documentation needed to verify leave is issued is not specified in current rules.

These are proposed rules and are subject to change before finalization. The Oregon Employment Department has scheduled two public meetings to hear feedback on November 16 and November 18, and is accepting written comments until December 4.

Cascade will continue to monitor these rules. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We’re here for you!