Employee Handbook - Oregon

EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK — OREGON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Purpose and Employment Framework
2. Equal Employment, Accommodation, and Reporting
3. Pay, Timekeeping, Breaks, and Scheduling
4. Leave and Protected Absences
5. Workplace Standards
6. Corrective Action and Separation
7. Administration and Acknowledgment

1. PURPOSE AND EMPLOYMENT FRAMEWORK

1.1 Company and Effective Date

This Handbook states the current workplace policies of [COMPANY LEGAL NAME] (the “Company”) for employees working in Oregon. It is effective [__/__/____] and replaces prior handbook versions prospectively.

1.2 Handbook Status

This Handbook is not a contract for employment for a fixed term. Except where a signed agreement, collective bargaining agreement, or controlling law provides otherwise, the Company intends employment to be at will. Either the employee or the Company may end the relationship at any time, subject to applicable law.

This Handbook does not guarantee a disciplinary sequence, continued employment, a particular assignment, or a benefit not vested under a governing plan or agreement.

1.3 Policy Changes

The Company may revise policies prospectively in writing, subject to applicable law, earned wages, vested benefits, signed agreements, and collective bargaining agreements. Only [AUTHORIZED TITLE] may approve a Handbook revision.

2. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT, ACCOMMODATION, AND REPORTING

2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company prohibits unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Oregon employment protections generally apply to employers with one or more employees and cover race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age, disability, uniformed-service status, and other statuses protected by federal, state, or local law.

Recruiting, hiring, pay, scheduling, assignments, promotion, discipline, and separation decisions will follow applicable anti-discrimination and equal-pay requirements.

2.2 Disability, Pregnancy, and Religious Accommodation

Applicants and employees may request accommodation from [HR/ACCOMMODATION CONTACT] for disability, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, related medical conditions, religious observance or practice, or another legally protected reason. The Company will conduct a timely, individualized review; request only permitted information; and provide accommodation where required under the controlling standard.

Oregon employers with six or more employees must reasonably accommodate known pregnancy-related limitations unless the accommodation creates an undue hardship. The Company will not require leave when another reasonable accommodation permits performance of essential duties.

2.3 Workplace Fairness Policy

The Company maintains and distributes a separate written [WORKPLACE FAIRNESS / ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY] that complies with Or. Rev. Stat. § 659A.375. The policy describes prohibited discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault; reporting channels; applicable limitation periods and external rights; document-retention protections; and the Company's investigation and non-retaliation process.

The policy is provided at hire and is readily available in the workplace. Supervisors who receive or observe a concern must notify [HR / DESIGNATED CONTACT].

2.4 Reporting and Non-Retaliation

Report discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage concerns, leave interference, safety issues, or other suspected violations to any of the following:

• [SUPERVISOR]
• [HR CONTACT]
• [ALTERNATE CONTACT OUTSIDE THE REPORTING CHAIN]

Reports may be oral or written. The Company will review reports promptly, preserve confidentiality to the extent practicable, prohibit retaliation, and take action based on the findings. Internal reporting does not require an employee to waive or delay a protected agency contact, charge, testimony, emergency request, or legal remedy.

3. PAY, TIMEKEEPING, BREAKS, AND SCHEDULING

3.1 Classification and Workweek

Employees are classified as [FULL-TIME / PART-TIME / TEMPORARY] and [EXEMPT / NONEXEMPT] under applicable law. The fixed workweek begins [DAY/TIME] and ends [DAY/TIME]. Classification labels do not override wage-and-hour law.

3.2 Minimum Wage and Overtime

For work performed from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, Oregon's general minimum-wage rates are:

The employee's work location controls. Payroll must use the current BOLI map and rules for employees who work in multiple areas. Oregon does not permit a tip credit against minimum wage.

Unless an exemption or special rule applies, covered nonexempt employees receive one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over forty in a workweek. Manufacturing, agricultural, domestic, and other occupations may have additional or different rules that require a separate policy.

3.3 Timekeeping and Off-the-Clock Work

Nonexempt employees must accurately record all work, including required preparation, closing, meetings, training, remote work, and work outside the scheduled shift. Off-the-clock work is prohibited. Advance approval may be required, but all work the Company requires or permits must be recorded and paid. Employees must report an error to [PAYROLL CONTACT] without fear of retaliation.

3.4 Paydays, Statements, and Deductions

The regular payday is [DAY / SCHEDULE]. Oregon employers must maintain regular paydays no more than thirty-five days apart. The Company will provide the required itemized wage statement and make deductions only when legally required or otherwise permitted, including a properly documented voluntary deduction for the employee's benefit.

Wages will not be delayed as discipline or conditioned on return of Company property. An undisputed underpayment will be corrected within the deadline applicable to its size under Or. Rev. Stat. § 652.120.

3.5 Meal and Rest Periods

Nonexempt employees receive paid rest periods of at least ten minutes and unpaid meal periods of at least thirty minutes according to the current shift-length table in OAR 839-020-0050. A six-hour work period generally requires one rest period and one meal period; an eight-hour shift generally requires two rest periods and one meal period.

Employees must be relieved of all duties during an unpaid meal period. If an exception lawfully permits duties during the meal period, the entire meal period is paid. Employees must promptly report a missed, interrupted, shortened, or late break to [CONTACT].

3.6 Lactation Breaks and Space

The Company provides a reasonable rest period each time an employee needs to express milk for a child up to eighteen months of age and makes reasonable efforts to provide a private location near the workstation that is not a public restroom or toilet stall. Cooler and available-refrigerator use will be administered under Or. Rev. Stat. § 653.077 and current rules.

Employers with ten or fewer employees may assert the Oregon undue-hardship exception only when its standard is actually met. Federal requirements may be more protective and must be applied independently.

3.7 Predictive Scheduling for Covered Operations

If the Company is a covered retail, hospitality, or food-service establishment with at least 500 employees worldwide, it will maintain a separate predictive-scheduling policy. Covered employers generally must provide a good-faith estimate at hire, post a written schedule at least fourteen calendar days in advance, honor the statutory right to rest between shifts, provide schedule-change premiums when required, and post the notice of rights.

Coverage, excluded employees, voluntary standby lists, employee-requested changes, exceptions, ten-hour rest periods, and premium calculations must be administered under the current BOLI rules.

3.8 Equal Pay and Salary History

The Company provides equal compensation for work of comparable character unless the entire differential is based on one or more consistent, verifiable statutory bona fide factors. Comparable character turns on substantially similar knowledge, skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions, not job title alone.

The Company will not seek or use salary history except as permitted by Oregon law. Employees may discuss compensation and report a pay concern without retaliation where protected.

4. LEAVE AND PROTECTED ABSENCES

4.1 Oregon Sick Time

Eligible employees accrue at least one hour of protected sick time for every thirty hours worked, up to at least forty hours per year. Sick time is paid when the employer meets the ten-employee threshold, or the six-employee threshold for an employer with a Portland location; otherwise, protected sick time is unpaid.

Employees may begin using protected sick time after ninety days of employment. Use, family-member coverage, qualifying reasons, notice, verification, carryover or frontloading, restoration, quarterly balance notices, and interaction with another paid-leave bank are administered under Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 653.601-.661 and the separate sick-time procedure.

4.2 Paid Leave Oregon

Most eligible employees may receive up to twelve weeks of family, medical, or safe leave benefits in a fifty-two-week period. A qualifying pregnancy, childbirth, or related health need may support up to two additional weeks, for a maximum of fourteen weeks.

The Oregon Employment Department or the Company's approved equivalent plan decides benefit eligibility and administers claims. Employees generally receive position-restoration protection after at least ninety consecutive days with the employer, while anti-retaliation protection applies regardless of length of service. Notice, intermittent use, benefit supplementation, contributions, and coordination are administered under Or. Rev. Stat. ch. 657B and current program guidance.

4.3 Oregon Family Leave Act

OFLA generally covers an employer with at least twenty-five employees and an employee who has averaged at least twenty-five hours per week for 180 days, subject to the public-health-emergency and airline-employee rules. Current OFLA qualifying reasons are sick-child leave, bereavement, and pregnancy disability. The separate Oregon Military Family Leave Act may provide up to 14 days per deployment and counts against available OFLA leave as current law directs.

OFLA generally caps sick-child and bereavement leave at twelve weeks. Bereavement is limited to two weeks per family member and four weeks in a leave year, and pregnancy disability may support up to twelve additional weeks. Paid Leave Oregon and OFLA generally do not run at the same time, although another law may overlap. Use the separate OFLA procedure for notice, certification, intermittent leave, benefit continuation, and restoration.

4.4 Federal Family and Medical Leave

Eligible employees of a covered employer may take unpaid, job-protected FMLA leave for qualifying reasons. The federal FMLA generally provides up to twelve workweeks in a twelve-month period and up to twenty-six workweeks in a single twelve-month period for qualifying military-caregiver leave. Coverage, eligibility, certification, coordination, benefit continuation, and restoration are administered under the separate FMLA policy.

4.5 Domestic Violence and Related Safety Protections

All Oregon employers must provide reasonable safety accommodations for eligible workers affected by domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, bias, or stalking. An employer with six or more employees must also provide reasonable leave for the employee or the employee's minor child or dependent to seek legal, law-enforcement, medical, counseling, victim-service, relocation, or home-safety assistance covered by law.

There is no length-of-service or weekly-hours waiting period for these protections. Permitted certification will be kept confidential. Contact [SAFETY / LEAVE CONTACT] through [CONFIDENTIAL METHOD].

4.6 Jury Service

The Company will provide leave for jury service and will not discharge or retaliate because an employee responds to a summons or serves. Oregon law does not require private-employer wage continuation, but the Company will not require use of vacation, sick, or other annual leave for jury service. The employee may elect available paid leave under [COMPANY POLICY].

4.7 Other Protected and Company Leave

The Company separately administers military service and reemployment, workers' compensation, bone-marrow donation, subpoena and witness obligations, volunteer emergency service, bereavement outside OFLA, vacation/PTO, and other leave where applicable. Complete the following before use:

• Vacation/PTO: [ACCRUAL / USE / CARRYOVER / PAYOUT]
• Company bereavement: [POLICY]
• Personal leave: [POLICY]

5. WORKPLACE STANDARDS

5.1 Attendance, Safety, and Conduct

Employees must report as scheduled, follow lawful safety and work rules, accurately maintain records, protect Company and customer property, and avoid dishonesty, threats, violence, unlawful harassment, and material conflicts of interest. Call-in procedures are [METHOD / CONTACT / TIMING], subject to protected leave and accommodation rules.

5.2 Confidential Information and Protected Activity

Employees must protect trade secrets and legitimately confidential business information. This policy does not prohibit protected reports to government agencies, lawful whistleblowing, discussion of wages or working conditions where protected, participation in an investigation, consultation with counsel, or other activity protected by law.

5.3 Substance and Impairment Policy

Employees may not work while impaired or possess, use, sell, or distribute unlawful substances at work. Cannabis remains subject to Company policy and applicable state and federal law; this Handbook does not promise protection for cannabis use or impairment. Testing and safety-sensitive rules must be placed in a separately reviewed policy.

5.4 Technology and Social Media

Company systems are for authorized use under the separate [INFORMATION SECURITY / ACCEPTABLE USE] policy. Any monitoring must be approved and implemented consistently with applicable privacy, labor, and communications law. This policy does not prohibit protected reporting, wage discussion, or concerted activity.

5.5 Separate Agreements

Arbitration, restrictive covenants, invention assignment, confidentiality obligations intended to survive employment, and other binding terms must be placed in separately reviewed agreements. They are not created by this Handbook.

6. CORRECTIVE ACTION AND SEPARATION

6.1 Corrective Action

Depending on the circumstances, the Company may use coaching, verbal warning, written warning, final warning, suspension, reassignment, or discharge. It may select or skip steps. This discretionary framework is not a promise of progressive discipline and does not create a notice-and-cure right.

6.2 Final Pay

Final wages will be paid under Or. Rev. Stat. § 652.140:

• discharge or mutual termination: by the end of the next business day;
• resignation with at least forty-eight hours' notice, excluding weekends and holidays: on the final day, or the next business day when the final day is a weekend or holiday; and
• resignation with less notice: within five business days, excluding weekends and holidays, or on the next regular payday, whichever occurs first.

Different rules may apply to covered collective bargaining agreements and specified state- and county-fair employment. Vacation, bonuses, commissions, expenses, and other compensation are handled under the governing written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law. Earned wages will not be conditioned on return of property or signing a release.

6.3 Return of Property

Employees must return Company property, records, credentials, and equipment by [METHOD / DEADLINE]. Disputed property will be addressed separately from wage payment.

7. ADMINISTRATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

7.1 Conflicts

If this Handbook conflicts with controlling law, a benefit plan, a signed agreement, or a collective bargaining agreement, the controlling authority governs. Contact [HR/LEGAL] before applying a policy to an unusual coverage, leave, wage, or accommodation question.

7.2 No Risk-Shifting Terms

This Handbook does not impose employee indemnity, a damages cap, attorney-fee shifting, an exclusive forum, arbitration, a jury waiver, a restrictive covenant, a pre-claim notice-and-cure period, or force-majeure relief from wage, leave, safety, or insurance obligations.

EMPLOYEE ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I acknowledge receipt of the [COMPANY LEGAL NAME] Employee Handbook effective [__/__/____]. I understand that:

1. I am responsible for reading the Handbook and asking [HR CONTACT] about unclear policies.
2. The Handbook is not a contract for employment for a fixed term.
3. The Company may prospectively revise policies in writing, subject to applicable law and binding agreements.
4. The corrective-action framework is discretionary unless controlling law or an authorized agreement requires otherwise.
5. Nothing in the Handbook requires me to waive or delay protected reports, agency contacts, or remedies.

Employee Name: [________________________________]

Employee Signature: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Company Representative: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

OFFICIAL SOURCES AND IMPLEMENTATION REFERENCES

• Oregon Legislature — ORS Chapter 653
• Oregon Legislature — ORS Chapter 652
• Oregon Legislature — ORS Chapter 659A
• Oregon Legislature — ORS Chapter 657B
• Oregon Legislature — ORS Chapter 10
• Oregon BOLI — 2026 Minimum Wage
• Oregon BOLI — Sick Time
• Oregon BOLI — Meals and Breaks
• Oregon BOLI — Equal Pay
• Oregon BOLI — Paychecks and Final Pay
• Oregon BOLI — Predictive Scheduling
• Oregon BOLI — Workplace Fairness and Sexual Harassment
• Oregon BOLI — Pregnancy Accommodations
• Oregon BOLI — Lactation Breaks
• Oregon BOLI — Oregon Family Leave Act
• Paid Leave Oregon — Employee Overview
• Oregon BOLI — Domestic Violence Protections
• Oregon BOLI — Jury Duty
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Overtime
• U.S. Department of Labor — FMLA