GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

Paid Leave Oregon has become one of the most difficult leaves in Oregon to navigate. From limited communications from the Oregon Employment Department, delays in application processing, or employees just not communicating, it has often left employers wondering what to do. What are their options? Based on recommendations from BOLI and changes in the statute and rules, Cascade has compiled the following list of best practices to make navigating PLO easier.

Oregon has seen a significant change to protected leave laws over the past few years. The Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) program began in late 2023, and rules and regulations are continuing to change. The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) went through major amendments in July 2024. Fortunately for employers also covered by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), FMLA has not changed.

An employee tells you that they are having a baby and that they need to take time off both before and after the birth. What do you do? Is the leave covered under the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) or Paid Leave Oregon (PLO)?

As with anything leave-related, it’s complicated.

Since its inception, Paid Leave Oregon has faced significant challenges, including delays in processing claims, technical issues, and fraud attempts. These problems have highlighted the program's shortcomings and the need for more effective solutions.

On February 27th, the Oregon State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1515A, which makes changes to Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) and the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA). Governor Kotek is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

Since PLO went into effect, there has been a lot of overlap between PLO and OFLA, which has resulted in Oregon employees being able to stack leaves, amongst many other challenges and frustrations for employers. SB 1515A seeks to simplify and minimize such overlap by making several changes, including eliminating many provisions under OFLA.

Employers in Oregon must file their Quarter 1 combined payroll report by May 1, 2023, which for the first time will include Paid Leave Oregon data. The report may be filed through the Frances Online system, which has replaced the Oregon Payroll Reporting System (OPRS) and the Employer Account Access (EAA) portal, or may be filed by paper.

We don’t need to remind you (hopefully) that Paid Leave Oregon begins to take effect January 1, 2023.  But we may need to remind you of some important deadlines if you are opting out of the state plan and into an Equivalent Plan. Here are the important dates to remember.

The Oregon Legislature passed several employment related bills this session. Many of these will take effect at the beginning of 2022, but some were passed by emergency order, meaning they’ve already taken effect.