Paid Sick Leave in Oregon: Who Qualifies and How Much You Earn

Oregon law requires most employers to provide protected sick time, and you earn it at a rate of one hour of sick time for every 30 hours you work. Under Oregon's Sick Time Law (ORS 653.601 to 653.661), employers with 10 or more employees anywhere in the state must make that sick time paid. A lower threshold applies in Portland: employers with 6 or more employees who maintain a location within the city must provide paid sick time. Smaller employers below those thresholds still have to provide the same sick time, but they may provide it unpaid. Every covered employee can earn and use up to 40 hours of sick time per year. This is a real statewide mandate, which sets Oregon apart from the roughly half of U.S. states that have no paid sick leave law at all and rely only on the federal baseline, where the FLSA guarantees no paid sick leave whatsoever.

How Much Sick Time You Earn

The accrual rule is straightforward: you accrue a minimum of one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Accrual starts on your first day of employment, and you may begin using sick time on your 91st calendar day of employment. There is no exemption for part-time, seasonal, or temporary workers, all of whom accrue at the same rate based on hours actually worked.

The law sets several caps that employers may, but are not required to, impose:

• Use cap: An employer can limit your use of sick time to 40 hours in a year.
• Accrual cap: An employer can stop accrual once you reach 40 hours in a year.
• Carryover and balance cap: You are generally allowed to carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick time into the next year, but an employer may cap your total accrued balance at 80 hours.

Instead of tracking accrual, an employer may frontload the full 40 hours at the start of the year, making it available for immediate use. Sick time is paid at your regular hourly rate. Oregon's minimum wage is tiered by region (Portland metro, standard counties, and nonurban counties) and adjusts each July, so the floor for an hourly sick-time payment depends on where you work. As of 2026 the standard rate is in the mid-fourteen-dollar range, but because these figures change annually you should confirm the current regional minimum wage with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries before relying on a specific number. The comparable federal minimum wage under the FLSA remains $7.25 per hour.

Who Is Covered and What You Can Use It For

Nearly all Oregon employees are covered. The law reaches private employers and public employers alike. A handful of narrow categories are excluded, such as certain federal employees and some workers covered by specific collective bargaining or apprenticeship arrangements, but the default assumption for an ordinary Oregon worker is that you are covered.

Oregon defines the permitted uses of sick time broadly. You may use accrued sick time for:

• Your own illness, injury, or health condition, including preventive medical care and mental health needs.
• The illness, injury, health condition, or preventive care of a family member. Oregon's definition of family member is wide and includes spouse, domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, and others related by blood or affinity whose relationship is equivalent to a family relationship.
• Reasons related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking, for you or a family member.
• Bereavement, in some circumstances.
• A public health emergency, including a public-official-ordered closure of your workplace or your child's school or care provider, or a determination that your presence would jeopardize others' health.

For absences of more than three consecutive scheduled workdays, an employer may require reasonable documentation, such as a health care provider's note, but it cannot require that the note explain the nature of the illness, and it cannot make documentation a barrier that defeats the purpose of the leave.

Local Ordinances and Statewide Uniformity

Oregon deliberately built its 2016 statute to create a single, uniform statewide standard. The law generally preempts local governments from enacting their own paid sick time ordinances, which is why workers in Eugene, Salem, Bend, and elsewhere all look to the same state rule. Portland is the notable wrinkle: Portland had its own sick time ordinance before the statewide law, and the state law's 6-employee threshold for paid sick time applies specifically to employers operating within the city. In practice this means the key local variation that survives is the lower employer-size threshold in Portland, not a separate set of local rules.

How Sick Time Interacts With PTO and Other Leave

An employer that offers a paid time off (PTO) or vacation policy can satisfy the sick time law through that policy, as long as the PTO accrues at least as fast as the sick time law requires, can be used for all the same protected reasons, and provides the same protections against retaliation. If your PTO plan is more generous and meets these conditions, your employer does not have to layer a separate sick time bank on top of it.

Sick time is separate from Oregon's broader leave programs. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for eligible employees of larger employers. The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) is the state counterpart, also unpaid but with broader eligibility than FMLA. Separately, Paid Leave Oregon is a state insurance program that pays partial wage replacement for qualifying family, medical, and safe leave. Sick time can often be used alongside or to supplement these programs, but they are distinct entitlements with their own rules, and using one does not necessarily use up another.

Your Protections and How to Enforce Them

It is illegal for an Oregon employer to retaliate against you for requesting or using sick time, or for filing a complaint. Employers must also notify you of your accrued and used sick time, typically through information provided at least quarterly. If your employer denies you earned sick time, miscounts your accrual, refuses to pay it when required, or punishes you for using it, you can file a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), the agency that administers and enforces the sick time law.

Before acting, document your hours worked, your accrued balance, the dates and reasons you requested sick time, and any communications about the request. Because thresholds, the regional minimum wage rate, and program details change over time, verify the current requirements directly with BOLI rather than relying on a single figure. BOLI publishes the official rules, current wage rates, and complaint procedures, and is the authoritative source for confirming exactly how the law applies to your job.

Official Oregon Sources

This page is based on Oregon employment law. Rules and figures change — verify the current details directly with the official Oregon sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.

• Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) — official Oregon agency.
• BOLI: Wage and Hour Complaint (For Workers)
• Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 652 — Hours; Wages; Wage Claims; Records

Federal law and local ordinances may also apply. Federal laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act set a national floor, and your city or county may add protections (such as a higher local minimum wage or paid sick leave). Check both alongside Oregon state law.