Oregon’s sick time law, ORS 653.601 to 653.661, gives nearly every employee in the state up to 40 hours of protected sick time per year. Whether that time is paid depends on the employer’s size. Employers with 10 or more employees in Oregon must provide paid sick time, and the threshold drops to 6 employees for employers with operations in Portland. Smaller employers must still provide the time, but it can be unpaid.
Sick time also overlaps with two other Oregon programs: the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and Paid Leave Oregon. This guide answers the most common questions, then covers the Portland threshold, how the three programs work together, and what HR should do now. It reflects current guidance from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and changes from the 2025 legislative session.
Common Questions About Oregon Paid Sick Leave
Who can take paid sick leave in Oregon?
Nearly all employees who work in Oregon, including part-time, seasonal and temporary workers. The exclusions are participants in work training or certain work-study programs, railroad workers covered by the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, people employed by their parent, spouse or child, and independent contractors.
Which employers have to provide this leave?
Every employer with employees in Oregon must provide sick time. It must be paid if the employer has 10 or more employees in Oregon, or 6 or more anywhere in Oregon if the employer has operations in Portland. Otherwise the time is job-protected but can be unpaid.
Part-time, seasonal and temporary workers count toward the threshold. Certain owners and their family members don’t. The Portland threshold section below walks through how to apply it.
How much leave do employers need to provide?
Employees earn at least 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, or 1⅓ hours for every 40, up to 40 hours a year, starting on their first day. Overtime-exempt employees accrue as if they work 40 hours a week, unless their normal workweek is shorter. If the employer’s policy allows it, employees can donate accrued sick time to a coworker.
What can Oregon paid sick leave be used for?
Employees can use sick time for:
- Their own or a family member’s mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, including diagnosis, treatment and preventive care
- Caring for a newborn, newly adopted child or newly placed foster child within 12 months of the birth or placement
- Bereavement, including attending a funeral, making arrangements or grieving a family member’s death
- Needs related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, bias or stalking, such as legal proceedings, medical treatment, counseling, victim services or relocation
- A public health emergency that closes the employee’s workplace or a child’s school or child care, or that keeps the employee out of work for health reasons
- For employees who aren’t first responders, a Level 2 (Be Set) or Level 3 (Go) evacuation order, or dangerous heat or air quality. BOLI allows use when the air quality index reaches 201 or higher, even without an official declaration
- Any reason that also qualifies for Paid Leave Oregon, effective September 26, 2025
- Donating blood through a voluntary program approved or accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks or the American Red Cross, effective January 1, 2026
Family members include spouses and domestic partners, children, parents, siblings and stepsiblings, grandparents and grandchildren, and their spouses or domestic partners. For sick time, a child means someone under 18, or an adult child substantially limited by a physical or mental impairment.
How does this relate to other types of leave?
A PTO policy satisfies the sick time law if it’s substantially equivalent. At a minimum, it must let employees accrue up to 40 hours (or frontload at least 40), report balances at least quarterly, let new employees use up to 40 hours after their 90th day, allow carryover of up to 40 hours unless leave is frontloaded, and protect employees from discipline for covered absences.
Sick time also works alongside OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon. Those rules are covered in their own section below.
Can employers limit how many hours of sick leave employees use in a year?
Yes. Employers can limit use to 40 hours per year, limit carryover to 40 hours, and cap an employee’s total balance at 80 hours.
Can employers provide all the leave at once instead of letting it accrue?
Yes. Employers can frontload at least 40 hours at the start of each year and skip tracking accrual and carryover. Employees hired mid-year can receive a prorated amount, so a July 1 hire would get at least 20 hours. Employers can’t frontload part-time employees a smaller amount, such as 20 hours, because they work fewer hours.
Do employers have to carry over unused leave?
Under an accrual policy, yes. Employees can carry over up to 40 unused hours, subject to the 80-hour balance cap. Employers that frontload at least 40 hours at the start of each year don’t have to carry unused time forward.
What is the smallest amount of leave an employee can use?
One hour. If hourly use creates an undue hardship, an employer can require larger increments of up to 4 hours. Employers that do must let employees accrue and use at least 56 hours a year instead of 40, and must tell employees about the increment rule in writing.
How much do employers have to pay for sick leave?
Paid sick time is paid at the employee’s regular rate:
- One hourly rate: the same hourly rate.
- Multiple rates: the wages the employee would have earned, if known, or the weighted average of their regular rates in the previous pay period.
- Salaried: total wages for the pay period divided by the agreed hours. Employees with variable hours are presumed to work 40 hours a week.
- Commission or piece rate: at least the minimum wage.
Overtime, holiday pay, discretionary bonuses, incentive pay, tips and premium rates are excluded. Differentials paid for particular working conditions are included.
What notice do employers and employees need to provide?
Employers must post BOLI’s sick time notice and tell employees in writing, at least quarterly, how much sick time they have available. Many employers put the balance on the pay stub. See Oregon labor law poster requirements for the full posting list.
For foreseeable leave, employers can require up to 10 days’ advance notice. For unforeseeable leave, employees must give notice as soon as practicable. Notice rules can’t be used to interfere with an employee’s right to take sick time.
What verification can employers ask for?
Employers can require verification from a health care provider only in four situations:
- The employee is out for more than three consecutive scheduled workdays
- A foreseeable absence is expected to last more than 3 consecutive scheduled workdays
- The employee didn’t give the notice the employer’s policy requires
- The employer suspects abuse, such as a pattern of absences
Employees generally have 15 days to provide it. The employer must pay any cost of verification, including lost wages not covered by the employee’s health benefits. Employers can’t require a description of the illness or details about domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, bias or stalking.
“The “suspected abuse” exception is narrower than many managers assume. A pattern has to be something you can point to, such as repeated absences next to weekends or holidays, not a hunch. Document the pattern before you ask for a note, and remember that the employer pays for that note.” — Ryan Parker, Esq.
Are employees’ jobs and benefits protected when they take this leave?
Yes. Employers can’t retaliate against employees or count protected sick time against them. Employers don’t have to pay out unused sick time when employment ends, but if an employee is rehired within 180 days, previously accrued, unused sick time must be reinstated. See the Oregon employee separation guide and checklist for other final pay rules.
Paid or Unpaid? Applying the Portland Threshold
Whether sick time must be paid turns on two questions: how many employees the employer has in Oregon, and whether it has operations in Portland. The count covers employees anywhere in the state, not just those in Portland.
| Employees in Oregon | Operations in Portland | No operations in Portland |
| 10 or more | Paid | Paid |
| 6 to 9 | Paid | Unpaid, but job-protected |
| Fewer than 6 | Unpaid, but job-protected | Unpaid, but job-protected |
A Salem business with 8 employees can offer unpaid sick time. If it opens a small Portland office and hires one person there, it has 9 employees in Oregon and operations in Portland, so it must now offer paid sick time to its Oregon employees, including the 8 in Salem. A Eugene business with 12 employees has to pay sick time whether or not it has a Portland location.
“Growth is where employers get caught. One Portland location can move a small company from unpaid to paid sick time, so check the threshold before you open there, not after.” — Ryan Parker, Esq.
How Sick Time Works With OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon
Oregon employees may be covered by three overlapping programs:
- Sick time covers short, frequent absences, up to 40 hours a year, paid or unpaid depending on employer size.
- OFLA applies to employers with 25 or more employees and to employees who have averaged 25 hours a week over the previous 180 days. It provides unpaid, job-protected leave for a sick child (up to 12 weeks), bereavement (up to 2 weeks per family member and 4 weeks per year, taken within 60 days of learning of the death), pregnancy disability (up to 12 additional weeks) and military family leave (up to 14 days per deployment). See BOLI’s OFLA guidance.
- Paid Leave Oregon is a state program that replaces wages during longer leave for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious health condition, and safe leave related to sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, bias or stalking. See Paid Leave Oregon.
A few rules connect them. Employees can use available sick time during OFLA leave, and an employer can’t require 30 days’ advance notice for sick time used that way. Since September 26, 2025, sick time can also be used for any reason that qualifies for Paid Leave Oregon. OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon can’t be taken at the same time for the same event, though an employer can provisionally designate leave as OFLA while a Paid Leave Oregon claim is pending. Employers can also learn an employee’s Paid Leave Oregon benefit amount so they can apply a policy that limits combining that benefit with paid time off.
A child home sick for two days
An employee at a 40-person company stays home with a child who has the flu. The two days qualify as sick time and, if the employee is eligible, as OFLA sick child leave. The employee can use paid sick time for both days, and the absences count against their OFLA sick child entitlement.
The death of a parent
An eligible employee at a 30-person company loses a parent. OFLA protects up to 2 weeks of bereavement leave, taken within 60 days of the employee learning of the death. Because OFLA leave is unpaid, the employee can use available sick time to cover part of it, and the employer can’t require 30 days’ notice for that sick time.
Surgery with a six-week recovery
An employee has surgery and expects six weeks of recovery. Paid Leave Oregon provides wage replacement for the leave. Whether the employee can also draw on sick time to bring their pay closer to their full wages depends on the employer’s written policy. Short absences for follow-up appointments after the employee returns can be covered by sick time.
“Treat the three programs as layers, not alternatives. Sick time handles the short absences, OFLA protects the job in specific family situations, and Paid Leave Oregon replaces pay during longer leave. Many of the problems I see come from handbooks written before Paid Leave Oregon took effect, when OFLA covered most family and medical leave. If your policy still describes OFLA that way, managers are likely designating leave under the wrong program.” — Ryan Parker, Esq.
What Oregon Employers Should Do Now
- Confirm whether your sick time must be paid. Count your Oregon employees, check for Portland operations, and recheck whenever you add a location or your headcount changes.
- Add the 2025 and 2026 uses to your written policy: any reason that qualifies for Paid Leave Oregon, and blood donation.
- Check your notice rules. Require no more than 10 days’ notice for foreseeable sick time, and don’t require 30 days’ notice when sick time is used during OFLA leave.
- Limit verification requests to the four situations the law allows, and make sure the company pays for them.
- Confirm employees receive a written sick time balance at least quarterly.
- Decide whether employees can combine sick time or PTO with Paid Leave Oregon benefits, and put the rule in writing.
- Update your handbook so it describes OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon as they work today. See Oregon employee handbook requirements and SixFifty’s employee handbook builder for multi-state employers.
- Make sure payroll pays sick time at the right rate for employees with multiple rates, salaries or commissions.
Simplify Oregon Paid Sick Leave with SixFifty
Oregon’s sick time rules change often and overlap with OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon. SixFifty helps employers keep their policies aligned with current requirements, with less administrative work for HR. Schedule a free demo today, explore the paid leave policy creator, or see paid sick leave laws and requirements by state.
