Paid Leave Oregon Bulletin

Small Employers: June 2022 Spotlight

About 90% of all businesses in Oregon are considered small employers by Paid Leave Oregon, according to Employment Department data. This month, we wanted to focus on small employers and the top three questions we have been hearing about how Paid Leave Oregon may impact them.

1. How do I know if I am a small employer or large employer?
   • For Paid Leave Oregon, a small employer has less than 25 employees. We will use payroll reports to count employees to determine employer size, including full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees, as well as out-of-state workers. Only workers hired to replace employees taking paid leave are excluded from the count.
2. Are small employers required to pay contributions?
   • Contributions are paid by all employees (60% of the 1 percent contribution rate) and large employers (40% of the contribution rate). Click here to learn more about contributions. Small employers are not required to pay the employer portion (40%) of contributions, but they still must withhold and submit the employee portion of contributions with their payroll reports.
3. Is there support for small employers when their employees take paid leave?
   • Yes. Small employers that agree to pay the employer portion of contributions can receive assistance grants. Assistance grants give you funding to help hire or train a replacement worker while one of your employees is out on approved paid leave. These grants are $3,000 for replacement workers or $1,000 for wage-related costs. You can receive up to 10 grants in a year.

Learn more about how Paid Leave Oregon may impact small employers by reading our small employer fact sheet found on our resources page.

Join us for virtual Community Conversations!

Through the end of August 2023, Paid Leave Oregon is hosting weekly community conversations over Zoom where you can learn more about the Paid Leave Oregon program. Sign up links are below:

• Tuesdays, 3-4 p.m., en español, (Zoom meeting held in Spanish)
• Thursdays, 3-4 p.m., in English, Zoom meeting with ASL and Spanish interpretation provided
• Fridays, 10-11 a.m., in English, Zoom meeting with ASL and Spanish interpretation provided 

If you need an accommodation, including language translation, please email paidleave@oregon.gov no later than three business days before the session you plan to attend with your accommodation request.

Contact us

Have a question about Paid Leave? Please send us an email or leave us a voicemail, and we will be happy to connect and answer any questions that you have. 

Email: PaidLeave@oregon.gov
Call: 503-370-5800 

Opportunities to Join Paid Leave Oregon and OED

Are you passionate about providing benefits to others and ensuring businesses, small employers, and employees are treated fairly? Consider joining the Paid Leave Oregon team.

Want to learn more about Paid Leave?

More information about Paid Leave Oregon is online at oregon.gov/employ/PFMLI. There are a number of new resources on the website on the program resources page.