Bereavement Leave Requirements in Oregon

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Oregon has a broad sick-time route and a separate OFLA allotment

Or. Rev. Stat. § 653.616(3) lets an employee use accrued Oregon sick time for the purposes listed in § 659A.159 notwithstanding OFLA's 25-employee threshold. That includes attending a family member's funeral or alternative, making arrangements necessitated by the death, and grieving.

The sick-time law applies to employers with at least one employee working in Oregon, except the federal government. Use begins on the 91st calendar day of employment. The employee generally accrues one hour per 30 hours worked, and an employer may cap use at 40 hours in a year. This is an existing shared bank, not a new 40-hour award after each death.

Employees who separately satisfy OFLA receive more. Under §§ 659A.153 and 659A.162, the employer must have at least 25 employees and the employee must have averaged 25 hours per week for 180 days. The employee then receives two weeks for each family member's death, capped at four weeks in the leave year and counted within the overall 12-week OFLA bank. The leave must be completed within 60 days after the employee learns of the death.

The same death purposes and family definition feed both routes

Section 659A.159 covers a funeral or alternative, necessary arrangements, and grieving. Section 659A.150's family definition includes a spouse; a child, parent, sibling or stepsibling, grandparent, or grandchild and specified spouses or domestic partners of those relatives; the employee's domestic partner; and an individual related by blood or affinity whose close association is the equivalent of family.

The affinity category is not an unlimited designated-person category. Current Oregon rules focus it on whether the relationship has the close association equivalent to family and permit a limited written attestation for that issue.

Pay depends on which right and which employer applies

OFLA is unpaid. Section 659A.174 nevertheless allows paid accrued sick leave, vacation leave, or other employer-offered paid leave to run during the OFLA absence.

The sick-time route has its own pay line. Section 653.606 requires regular-rate pay when the employer has at least 10 Oregon employees. BOLI's current guidance states the threshold is six for an employer with a Portland location. Below the applicable paid threshold, the accrued sick time remains protected but unpaid.

Bereavement proof is tightly limited

OAR 839-009-0250 treats OFLA bereavement as unforeseeable leave. Oral or written notice is due within 24 hours before or after the leave begins, and the employer may require written notice within three days after the employee returns.

The employer may not demand added information to verify the death-related leave. The exception is a written attestation when the claimed family relationship is by affinity. Under OAR 839-011-0240, the employer must supply the form; it need not be notarized and must use the language the employer normally uses to communicate with the employee.

For sick time, § 653.621 permits an employer's written policy to require no more than 10 days' advance notice for foreseeable use and only practicable notice for unforeseeable use. A family death will ordinarily fall on the unforeseeable side.

Both laws protect the absence

OFLA requires return to the former position if it still exists, or an available equivalent position if it does not. Health benefits continue on the same terms that apply while working. Section 659A.183 prohibits denial, discrimination, and retaliation.

Oregon sick time is defined as time without disciplinary consequences or a reduction in benefits. Section 653.641 separately makes denial, interference, nonpayment, and retaliation unlawful.

Complaints and civil relief are available

BOLI accepts employment-discrimination complaints, and § 659A.875 generally allows five years for an unlawful-employment-practice claim. For OFLA, § 659A.885 authorizes a circuit-court action with equitable relief such as reinstatement and back pay, compensatory or $200 minimum damages, punitive damages, and prevailing-plaintiff attorney fees. A willful sick-time violation can also produce a civil penalty up to $1,000 under § 653.646.

What trips people up

The 25-employee threshold applies to the OFLA allotment, not the sick-time death use. Section 653.616(3) expressly imports the OFLA purposes notwithstanding § 659A.153. A worker at a smaller employer may have accrued sick time for the death even without the separate two-week OFLA right.

Two weeks is not automatically paid. OFLA supplies protected time, while pay comes from accrued sick time, vacation, another paid-leave policy, or the employer's choice.

Four weeks is the annual bereavement cap, not the entire OFLA cap. The four weeks sit inside the combined 12-week OFLA allowance for sick-child and bereavement purposes.

A death certificate is not the default proof. Current OAR 839-009-0250 bars additional bereavement verification. The narrow exception is an employer- supplied affinity attestation.

Common questions

Can an Oregon employee use sick time just to grieve?

Yes. Grieving the family member's death is one of the three express purposes, along with the funeral or alternative and necessary arrangements.

Does a worker at a five-person business have death-related leave?

The worker does not qualify for the separate OFLA allotment on that headcount alone, but Oregon sick time applies at employers with at least one Oregon employee. After the 90-day waiting period, accrued time may be used for the covered death purposes; below the paid threshold it is protected but unpaid.

Does each death create another 40 hours of sick time?

No. The employee draws from the ordinary sick-time balance shared with every other covered use. The per-family-member allotment belongs to OFLA and applies only when OFLA coverage and eligibility are satisfied.

Statutes and sources

• Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 659A.150-.183. Current OFLA family definition, death-related purposes, coverage, amount, timing, notice, restoration, paid- leave use, and protection. Official chapter 659A (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 653.601-.646. Current sick-time coverage, accrual, death-related use, pay, waiting period, notice, protection, and enforcement. Official chapter 653 (accessed July 15, 2026).
• OAR 839-009-0250 and 839-011-0240. Current bereavement notice, verification limit, and affinity-attestation rules. Official current rule (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Current plain-language OFLA guidance and sick-time guidance (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 659A.875 and 659A.885. Time limit and civil remedies, with the current remedy text confirmed in enacted 2026 HB 4111. Official enrolled bill (accessed July 15, 2026).