Paid Leave Oregon Bulletin

December spotlight: 2024 Paid Leave contribution rate

Each November, the Oregon Employment Department notifies employers of tax and contribution rates for the next calendar year. Last month, we mailed employers their rate information for both Paid Leave Oregon and Unemployment Insurance programs. This information is also posted in employers’ Frances Online account.

2024 Paid Leave Oregon contribution rate

The Paid Leave Oregon contribution rate for 2024 will stay the same as 2023 at 1% of each employee’s wages, up to $168,600. This is the Social Security taxable maximum wage amount for 2024. Contributions for Paid Leave Oregon are divided between employees and employers, with 60% of the rate paid by employees and 40% by large employers.

Attention employees!

Does your employer have an equivalent plan, meaning their own paid leave plan that is administered through your employer or an insurance company instead of by the state program?

If you are having trouble applying for paid leave through your employer’s equivalent plan, please do the following:

• Review your employer’s model notice poster.
• If your employer hasn’t provided this information, ask your employer for their model notice poster.
• If you have a qualifying event (family, medical, or safe leave), you don’t need to use any of your vacation, sick leave, or other paid time off before applying for paid leave from your employer.

If you’re still having difficulties after that, please call 833-854-0166 (toll-free) or use our Contact Us form.

New web page: What happens after I apply?

 

Many of you told us that we need better instructions about the meaning of all the messages and letters you receive in Frances Online and in the mail. We heard you, and we’ve built a new “What to expect after you apply" web page. It is translated in eight languages.

On this page, you can find out what to expect after you apply: what you might get in the mail, what terms like “non-monetary determination” mean, and much more. If you have questions about the process, please check out this page for detailed information. There is also a new infographic explaining what wages are used to calculate your benefit amount and what a base year and alternative base year means for Paid Leave Oregon. Yes, it’s complicated, but this graphic helps!
 

In the news

You may have read some of the recent media coverage about Paid Leave Oregon. Much of the coverage has focused on some people who are experiencing delays with their claims. This isn’t unexpected as we work out the issues in our program, which launched only three months ago. We want you to know we’re working to resolve these issues. We are also ensuring that we protect the program’s funds (your contributions) and we’re learning how to make our program even stronger. While some claimants are experiencing challenges, we pay most claimants within four weeks of applying. Most of the delays are due to a few key issues that you should be aware of:

• Failure to respond to a letter received in the mail – even if you choose electronic communication, some customers will receive a letter through the mail that asks for more information. Please continue to check both your Frances Online account and your physical mailbox. It is important that you exactly follow the instructions in the letter. If you don’t do this, you will delay your claim.
• Failure to upload the correct documents for the leave type – Please review our checklist and Employee Guidebook on the employee toolkit webpage, which tells you what you need to apply. We highly recommend using our official Paid Leave forms to make sure all required information is submitted.
• Incorrectly submitting critical information – such as date of birth, name, employer name, Social Security Number, etc.

In addition, we encourage people to apply and notify their employer 30 days in advance, if possible. This will help speed up the process.

We are adding additional customer service staff to help with phones and to process claims. We also have staff working weekends to resolve complicated claims with pending issues. We know this is difficult for people who have been waiting and we are committed to resolving claims as quickly as possible.

Information for employers with equivalent plans

Employers: You are required to notify your employees about their rights to apply for paid leave!

You are responsible for providing your employees with instructions on how to apply for paid leave benefits through your policy provider or Human Resources department. Employees don’t have to use any accrued paid time off (vacation or sick pay) before applying for Paid Leave for a qualifying event.

If you still have questions, please call 833-854-0166 (toll-free) or use our Contact Us form.

Contact Paid Leave Oregon

Form:  Contact Us
Email: PaidLeave@Oregon.gov
Call: 833-854-0166 (toll-free)