Under Oregon’s paid sick leave law, almost every employee in the state earns one hour of protected sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Whether those hours come with a paycheck depends on how many people your employer has: 10 or more employees statewide (or six if the employer has a Portland location) means the time is paid at your regular rate. Smaller employers must still give you the time off, just unpaid. Hours start accruing on your first day, though your employer can make you wait until day 91 to actually use them.
Who the Law Covers
If you perform services for an employer operating in Oregon, you are almost certainly covered. Full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temp-agency workers all qualify.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 653.601 – Definitions for ORS 653.601 to 653.661
A short list of workers falls outside the statute:
- Federal employees who already get paid sick time under federal law
- Independent contractors who meet the legal test for self-employment
- Work-training and work-study participants in state, federal, or educational programs
- Railroad workers covered by the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act
- Family employees working for a parent, spouse, or child
Agricultural workers are sometimes assumed to be exempt. They aren’t. The statute’s exclusion list doesn’t mention farm labor.2Oregon Revised Statutes. ORS 653.601 – Definitions for ORS 653.601 to 653.661
Paid or Unpaid: It Depends on Employer Size
Employers with 10 or more employees anywhere in Oregon must pay sick time at your regular rate. If the employer has a location in Portland, that threshold drops to six.3State of Oregon. Sick Time Employers below those thresholds still owe the same time off, same accrual, same qualifying uses, same carryover rules. The only difference is the paycheck.4Oregon Public Law. ORS 653.606 – Employee Count, Paid and Unpaid Sick Time, Rules, Accrual, Use and Carryover Amounts
Employer size is measured by the average number of workers employed during the prior year, including employees working outside Oregon. Splitting the workforce into smaller regional groups isn’t a way around the paid-time requirement.
How You Earn and Keep Sick Time
You bank one hour for every 30 hours worked, starting on day one. But your employer can require you to wait until your 91st calendar day on the job before you spend any of it.3State of Oregon. Sick Time
Instead of tracking hours as they accrue, employers may front-load the full 40 hours at the start of each benefit year. If they do, they skip the accrual and carryover math because you already have the entire balance available.4Oregon Public Law. ORS 653.606 – Employee Count, Paid and Unpaid Sick Time, Rules, Accrual, Use and Carryover Amounts
Caps and Carryover
Annual accrual can be capped at 40 hours. You can carry up to 40 unused hours into the next year, but your employer may also cap your total accrued balance at 80 hours and limit actual yearly usage to 40 hours. So even if your balance rolls over and sits at 70 hours on paper, you may only be able to spend 40 of them in a single year.4Oregon Public Law. ORS 653.606 – Employee Count, Paid and Unpaid Sick Time, Rules, Accrual, Use and Carryover Amounts
As an alternative to carryover, you and your employer can agree that the employer pays out unused paid sick time at year’s end and credits you a fresh balance on day one of the next year. That option is only available at employers with 10 or more employees.4Oregon Public Law. ORS 653.606 – Employee Count, Paid and Unpaid Sick Time, Rules, Accrual, Use and Carryover Amounts
What You Can Use Sick Time For
Your own illness, injury, or health condition is covered, as is preventive care like routine checkups and dental appointments.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 653.616 – Allowable Uses of Sick Time You can also use sick time to care for a family member with any of those same needs. The law’s definition of family member draws from the Oregon Family Leave Act at ORS 659A.150 and reaches children, spouses, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and domestic partners, among others.
Several less obvious uses also qualify:
- Safe leave for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, or stalking, including time to seek legal help, counseling, or to relocate
- Public health emergencies, including closures of your workplace or your child’s school by government order, or a health authority determination that your presence in the community would endanger others
- Bereavement and related purposes covered by ORS 659A.159
- Donating accrued hours to a coworker, if your employer has a donation policy
- Donating blood through an approved program
That last one surprises people. It’s in the statute.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 653.616 – Allowable Uses of Sick Time
How to Request Leave and When a Doctor’s Note Is Allowed
Giving Notice
For foreseeable absences like a scheduled appointment, your employer can require advance notice, but no more than 10 calendar days before the leave starts. Less notice is fine; more cannot be demanded.3State of Oregon. Sick Time For unexpected absences, you need to notify your employer before your shift starts if you can. When even that isn’t possible, the standard is “as soon as practicable.” Most employers set their own preferred channel, whether that’s a phone call, a text, or an entry in a scheduling app.6Oregon Public Law. OAR 839-007-0040 – Employee Notice Policy and Procedures
Medical Verification
Your employer can only ask for a doctor’s note if your absence lasts more than three consecutive scheduled workdays. For foreseeable leave expected to run that long, verification can be requested before the leave begins. Otherwise, you have 15 calendar days after the request to produce it.7Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 653.626 – Medical Verification
One exception: if your employer suspects a pattern of abuse, such as repeated absences adjacent to weekends, holidays, or paydays, they can ask for verification sooner. Whenever verification is required, your employer must cover any out-of-pocket cost you incur to get the note, including lost wages from the appointment, that your health insurance doesn’t already cover.7Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 653.626 – Medical Verification
The note cannot be required to describe the nature of your illness or the details of any domestic violence, assault, or stalking situation. It just confirms that you needed the time off.
Retaliation Is Illegal
Your employer cannot fire you, cut your hours, demote you, or take other adverse action because you used or requested sick time. That protection applies whether the time is paid or unpaid. If you believe retaliation has happened, you can file a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), which investigates and can impose civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. BOLI can be reached at 971-245-3844 or through its website.
What Happens When You Leave the Job
Oregon does not require employers to pay out unused accrued sick time when you quit, get laid off, or are fired. The balance expires. If the same employer rehires you within 180 days, though, they must restore your previously accrued hours. That matters in industries with seasonal layoffs where the same workers return to the same employer every year.
Employers can also meet their obligation through an existing PTO, vacation, or personal-time policy if it’s substantially equivalent to the sick time law. They still have to comply with every requirement for the first 40 hours such a policy provides per year.8Oregon Public Law. ORS 653.611 – Substantially Equivalent Policies
How Sick Time Interacts with Other Leave
Oregon workers often have access to more than one leave program, and the overlap rules aren’t obvious.
Paid Leave Oregon. You can use accrued employer-provided sick time alongside Paid Leave Oregon benefits for the same absence. The combined total generally cannot exceed your full wage replacement, though employers can choose to allow it. When you have multiple types of accrued paid leave, your employer may dictate the order you use them.9Paid Leave Oregon. Common Questions
Oregon Family Leave Act. OFLA leave is unpaid on its own, but you may apply accrued sick time, vacation, or other paid leave to an OFLA absence. OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon do not run concurrently, and some events qualify under one but not the other. OFLA covers partial-day absences; Paid Leave Oregon does not.10State of Oregon. Oregon Family Leave Act
Federal FMLA. OFLA and FMLA are separate laws that may run concurrently when you qualify for both. Oregon sick time can be applied to either.
Employer Compliance Basics
Employers have affirmative obligations beyond letting workers take time off. Required workplace posters must be displayed at every Oregon worksite where employees can regularly see them, and remote workers must receive the notice electronically or by mail in the language the employer normally uses to communicate with them.11State of Oregon. Required Worksite Posters Accrual and usage have to be tracked accurately and shared with employees, usually on pay stubs or through an HR portal. Noncompliance can trigger a BOLI investigation and civil penalties.