PORTLAND APPROVES SICK LEAVE LAW

The City of Portland Oregon has approved an ordinance requiring employers to provide sick leave. The ordinance is effective January 1, 2014.

Employers with a minimum of 6 employees must provide employees with a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work performed by the employee.  Employers with a maximum of 5 employees must provide employees with a minimum of one hour of unpaid sick time for every 30 hours of work performed by the employee.

Employees who travel to Portland for work accrue benefits for the hours they are paid to work within the City.

Employees may accrue a maximum 40 hours of sick time in a calendar year, unless the employer provides, or is contractually obligated to provide, more.  Sick time equivalent to this amount may be given at the beginning of a calendar year to meet this requirement for accrual.

Sick time accrued by an employee that is not used in a calendar year may be used by the employee in the following calendar years.  An employer is not required to allow an employee to carry over accrued hours in excess of 40 hours.

Accrued sick time must be retained by the employee if the employer sells, transfers or otherwise assigns the business to another employer and the employee continues to work in the City.

An employer must provide previously accrued and unused sick time to an employee who is rehired by that employer within 6 months of separation from that employer. The employee is entitled to use previously accrued sick time immediately upon re-employment.

Sick time must begin to accrue for employees who are employed on January 1, 2014 as of that date. New employees must begin accruing sick time on commencement of employment.

An employee may use sick time for the following qualifying absences:

• Diagnosis, care, or treatment of the employee’s, or the employee’s family member’s, mental or physical illness, injury or health condition including, but not limited to,  pregnancy, childbirth,  post-partum care and  preventive medical care;
• Domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking. 
• An absence from work due to:
  • Closure of the employee’s place of business, or the school or place of care of the employee’s child, by order of a public official due to a public health emergency;
  • Care for a family member when it has been determined by a lawful public health authority or by a health care provider that the family member’s presence in the community would jeopardize the health of others;  or
  • Any law or regulation that requires the employer to exclude the employee from the workplace for health reasons.

An employee may use sick time:

• In increments of one hour, unless a lesser time is allowed by the employer.
• To cover all or part of a shift.
• To cover a maximum of 40 hours per calendar year, unless otherwise allowed by the employer or as provided by law.

An employee may not use sick time duing the first 90 calendar days of employment, unless the employer allows use at an earlier time.

Employers must establish a written policy or standard for an employee to notify the employer of the employee’s use of sick time, whether by calling a designated phone number or by using another reasonable and accessible means of communication identified by the employer for the employee to use.

The employee must notify the employer of the need to use sick time, by means of the employer’s established policy or standard, before the start of the employee’s scheduled work shift or as soon as practicable. 

Employee means an individual who has worked at least 240 hours in a calendar year within the geographic boundaries of the City, and is not a government employee, although employees of the City of Portland are covered by this ordinance. 

Family member includes domestic partners.

The ordinance prohibits retaliatory personnel actions, which are defined as:

• Any threat, discharge, suspension, demotion, other adverse employment action against an Employee for the exercise of any right guaranteed under this Chapter, or
• Interference with, or punishment for, participating in any manner in an investigation, proceeding or hearing under this Chapter.

When the need to use sick time is foreseeable, the employee must provide notice to the employer by means of the employer’s established policy or standard as soon as practicable, and shall make a reasonable effort to schedule the sick leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.  The employee must inform the employer of any change to the expected duration of the sick leave as soon as practicable. 

For absences of more than 3 consecutive days, an employer may require reasonable documentation that sick time has been used for one of the purposes under the ordinance.  If an employer chooses to require documentation of the purpose for the use of sick time, the employer must pay the cost of any verification by a health care provider that is not covered by insurance or another benefit plan.

Employers suspecting sick leave abuse, including patterns of abuse, may require documentation from a licensed health care provider verifying the employee’s need for leave at the employee’s expense.

Nothing in this ordinance requires an employer to compensate an employee for accrued unused sick time upon the employee’s termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment.

It is a violation for an employer’s absence control policy to count earned sick leave covered under this ordinance as an absence that may lead to or result in an adverse employment action against the employee.

Employers must provide and post notice of employee rights under this ordinance.  The notice must be in English and other languages used to communicate with the employer’s workforce.  The City will provide a template for the notice.

Employers must retain records documenting hours worked, and sick time accrued and used by Employees, for a period of at least two years.  Employers must allow access to these records by any agency authorized to enforce this ordinance.

If the employer obtains health information about an employee or employee’s family member, that information must be treated as confidential to the extent provided by law.  All records and information kept by an employer regarding an employee’s request or use of sick time are confidential.