(Photo above: Amy Angel)
While the Oregon legislature is busy considering statewide Paid Sick Leave bills, the City of Eugene is actively preparing for its own Paid Sick Leave Ordinance to go into effect on July 1, 2015. On January 31, 2015, Eugene published final Administrative Rules implementing the Sick Leave Ordinance adopted by City Council last summer. For those already familiar with Portland’s Sick Time Ordinance that went into effect on January 1, 2014, Eugene’s Administrative Rules closely track Portland’s except, of course, where the two ordinances differ.
Both ordinances require employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid, protected sick time per year to employees working within their respective city’s geographical boundaries.Sick time may be used for certain qualifying absences, including the diagnosis, care or treatment of the employee or the employee’s family member, for leave necessitated by domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking as set out in ORS 659A.272, due to work, school, or child care closures resulting from an order of a public official due to a public health emergency, or whenever the employee is excluded by law or regulation from the workplace for health reasons.
Eugene’s final Rules expressly state that the Ordinance and the Rules apply to employees who perform work in the City regardless of where their employer is located. Conversely, hours worked outside the City, even if the employer is based in Eugene, are not covered.
Accordingly, an employer in Central Oregon, or even outside the state, must provide sick leave pursuant to the Ordinance for every employee who works at least 240 hours a year after July 1, 2015, within Eugene. Notably, an employee must only satisfy the 240 hour requirement once to remain eligible for sick time in subsequent years unless they change employers or are separated from their employer for more than 6 months.
Both ordinances provide for a minimum accrual rate of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Alternatively, an employer may frontload 40 hours of paid sick time at the beginning of each year. An employer may define its own “year” for purposes of both ordinances, and may use any consecutive 12-month period of time that is normally used for calculating wages and benefits, including a calendar year, tax year, fiscal year, contract year, or the year running from an employee’s anniversary date of employment.
Eugene’s Ordinance requires employers to begin accrual of sick time for each eligible employee on July 1, 2015, or upon commencement of employment, whichever is later. Depending on what “year” is selected, many employers will face an initial partial year during which they still must satisfy the requirements of the Ordinance.
While similar in many ways, there are several key differences between Eugene’s Sick Leave Ordinance and Portland’s. Notably, unlike Portland, Eugene’s Ordinance requires employers of all sizes, even those with only one employee, to provide sick leave with pay. Additionally, the Eugene Ordinance does not apply to employees in the building and construction industry who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Another key difference is that while Portland calculates sick time at the same base rate of pay, Eugene uses the employee’s regular rate of pay. While a subtle distinction, the base rate of pay and the regular rate of pay may differ.
Accordingly, employers with employees in both Portland and Eugene should carefully monitor what pay rate is being applied when employees use sick leave. Finally, Portland requires employers to allow employees to use sick time in increments of one hour. Eugene adopted this same one hour increment minimum except when the employee is ill, in which case the minimum increment is two hours, unless a lesser amount is allowed by the employer.
While the Rules of the Eugene Ordinance incorporate a three month grace period after July 1, during which civil penalties will not be imposed for non-compliance, employers will still be responsible for compensating employees for sick leave in accordance with the Ordinance. So employers with employees in Eugene should start preparing now to ensure compliance by July 1. Preparations should include updating sick leave or PTO policies as well as “call in” policies and attendance control policies.
Additionally, watch for the sick leave poster that Eugene will be publishing as employers physically located in the City must provide and post written notice to all employees based in the City of the entitlements to sick time, the amount of sick time and terms of its use, the prohibition of retaliation against employees, and an employee’s right to file a complaint if sick time is denied or if an employee is retaliated against for requesting or taking sick time.
While Lane County passed three ordinances last summer which would undermine Eugene’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, employers are advised to comply with the Ordinance until any legal challenges resolve the issue.
Amy Angel, is a partner at Barran Liebman LLP in Portland, and frequently advises and provides trainings on Oregon mandatory sick leave laws and drafts and reviews policies to comply with applicable legal requirements.
Contact her at 503-276-2195 or at aangel@barran.com.
