Associated Oregon Industries
Oregon’s largest business advocate
A paid sick leave mandate similar to a 2013 bill was introduced in the House Business and Labor Committee on Monday, December 9, 2014. To view the bill, LC 1229, you may click here. As currently written, the bill requires employers of all sizes to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works, up to a maximum of 56 hours per year. Employers are required to allow workers to take the leave in increments as small as one hour at a time, for the diagnosis, care, or treatment of their own condition or that of a family member.
Unused sick time may be carried over to the next year, or, if the employer and employee agree, the employer may pay the employee for the unused sick time at the end of the year – at the same rate of pay as regular time worked. Interestingly, building and construction industry employees with collective bargaining contracts are not covered by the bill, nor are longshoremen or stage hands, as long as they have collective bargaining agreements which expressly waive the bill’s requirements.
The bill allows employers to require medical verification of health conditions under certain circumstances, and requires that employees give “reasonable advance notice of the intention to use sick time, not to exceed 10 days,” when the need for leave is foreseeable. Despite these somewhat dubious concessions to employers, the bill generally ignores the day-to-day realities of running a stable, profitable business.
AOI opposes this paid sick leave mandate, and urges members to contact their legislators to express their concerns.
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