Oregon Revised Statutes
It is the public policy of this state that no person shall be hired, nor permitted to work for wages, under any conditions or terms, for longer hours or days of service than is consistent with the person’s health and physical well-being and ability to promote the general welfare by the person’s increasing usefulness as a healthy and intelligent citizen. It …
As used in this section: “Machinery” means material-handling equipment and power-driven machines powered by electricity, nuclear or fossil fuels, hydroelectric power, geothermal power or another power source other than by human hand, foot or breath. “Manufacturing” means the process of using machinery to transform materials, substances or components into n…
ORS 652.010 and 652.020 shall not be enforced insofar as they relate to working hours in sawmills, planing mills, shingle mills and logging camps until laws containing like provisions regarding working hours in such places of employment in the States of California, Washington and Idaho become effective in each of those states respectively.
Any employee asserting a violation of ORS 652.020, 653.263 or 653.265 may file a complaint with the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries under ORS 659A.820 or a civil action as provided in ORS 659A.885. In addition to any other damages provided by law, the commissioner may assess a civil penalty against the employer in the amount of $1,000. T…
No person who operates any underground mine yielding gold or silver or copper or lead or other metal shall permit or require any person to work in such underground mine for more than eight hours in any 24 hours. The hours for such employment or work day shall be consecutive excluding, however, any intermission of time for lunch or meals. In the case of emer…
As used in ORS 652.050 to 652.080: “Firefighter” means a person whose principal duties consist of preventing or combating fire or preventing loss of life or property from fire. “Regularly organized fire department” means any organization maintained for the purpose of preventing or combating fire and employing one or more persons on a full-time basis as fir…
No person employed on a full-time basis as a firefighter by any regularly organized fire department maintained by any incorporated city, municipality or fire district and that employs not more than three persons on a full-time basis as firefighters shall be required to be on regular duty with such fire department more than 72 hours a week. However, any affec…
Every affected incorporated city, municipality and fire district shall put into effect and maintain a schedule of working hours required of regularly employed firefighters which shall not be in excess of the average hours established by ORS 652.060, and which shall provide for at least 48 consecutive hours off-duty time in each seven-day period. Any affected…
In computing the average or total number of hours a week for the purposes of ORS 652.060 and 652.070, authorized vacation or sick leave time shall be considered as time on regular duty.
An employer may not: Compel, coerce or otherwise induce or attempt to induce an employee to create, file or sign documents containing information that the employer knows is false related to the hours worked or compensation received by the employee. In addition to any other remedy provided by law, an employee has a private cause of action for a violation of…
A person engaged in any business or enterprise of any kind in this state may not issue, in payment of or as evidence of indebtedness for wages due an employee, any order, check, memorandum or other instrument of indebtedness unless the instrument is negotiable and payable without discount in cash on demand at some bank or other established place of business …
Every employer shall establish and maintain a regular payday, at which date the employer shall pay all employees the wages due and owing to them. Payday may not extend beyond a period of 35 days from the time that the employees entered upon their work, or from the date of the last regular payday. This section does not prevent the employer from establishing…
If, upon complaint by an employee, and after investigation, it appears to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries that an employer is failing to pay wages within five days of a payday scheduled by the employer, the commissioner may require the employer to give a bond in such amount as the commissioner determines necessary, with sufficient sure…
Every person engaged in the business of logging or obtaining or securing sawlogs, poles, spars, piles, cordwood, posts or other timber or forest products, or engaged in the business of manufacturing sawlogs or other timber into lumber, and employing one or more employees on a piece work scale or quantity wage basis, shall furnish such employees at least once…
When an employer discharges an employee or when employment is terminated by mutual agreement, all wages earned and unpaid at the time of the discharge or termination become due and payable not later than the end of the first business day after the discharge or termination. When an employee who does not have a contract for a definite period quits employment,…
Notwithstanding ORS 652.140, if an employee has worked for an employer as a seasonal farmworker, whenever the employment terminates, all wages earned and unpaid become due and payable immediately except: Wages are due and payable by noon on the day after termination of the employment of the seasonal farmworker if: The termination occurs at the end of the h…
Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, if an employer willfully fails to pay any wages or compensation of any employee whose employment ceases, as provided in ORS 652.140 and 652.145, then, as a penalty for the nonpayment, the wages or compensation of the employee shall continue from the due date thereof at the same hourly rate for ei…
In case of dispute over wages, the employer must pay, without condition, and within the time set by ORS 652.140, all wages conceded by the employer to be due, leaving the employee all remedies the employee might otherwise have or be entitled to as to any balance the employee might claim.
In accordance with any applicable provision of ORS chapter 183, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may adopt rules to carry out the provisions of ORS 652.140 to 652.160.
When any number of employees enter upon a strike, the wages due such striking employees at the time of entering upon such strike shall not become due and payable until the next regular payday after the commencement of such strike, if the time between the commencement of the strike and the next regular payday does not exceed a period of 30 days. If the interv…
All wages earned by an employee, not exceeding $10,000, shall, upon the employee’s death, become due and payable to the employee’s surviving spouse, or if there is no surviving spouse, the dependent children, or their guardians or the conservators of their estates, in equal shares, to the same extent as if the wages had been earned by such surviving spouse o…
An employer that issues to an employee a dishonored check for payment of wages due is liable to the employee for the remedies provided in ORS 30.701. Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may assess a civil penalty in an amount equal to the statutory damages provided by ORS 30.701 agains…
As used in this section and ORS 652.198: “Authorized third party representative” means a third party that is authorized by an unrepresented employee to assert the rights of the unrepresented employee. “Construction contract” means an express or implied agreement: For the construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance, moving or demolition of any bu…
Any subcontractor with which a direct contractor has entered into a contract to perform a portion of a construction project within the scope of a construction contract between the direct contractor and an owner shall provide the following records to the direct contractor and the owner, upon the request, respectively, of the direct contractor or the owner: C…
In any action for the collection of any order, check, memorandum or other instrument of indebtedness referred to in ORS 652.110, if it is shown that the order, check, memorandum or other instrument of indebtedness was not paid for a period of 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, after presentation and demand for the payment thereof, the court…
As used in ORS 652.210 to 652.235, unless the context requires otherwise: “Compensation” includes wages, salary, bonuses, benefits, fringe benefits and equity-based compensation. “Compensation” does not include vaccine incentives. “Employee” means any individual who, otherwise than as a copartner of the employer, as an independent contractor or as a parti…
It is an unlawful employment practice under ORS chapter 659A for an employer to: In any manner discriminate between employees on the basis of a protected class in the payment of wages or other compensation for work of comparable character. Pay wages or other compensation to any employee at a rate greater than that at which the employer pays wages or other …
Any employee whose compensation is at a rate that is in violation of ORS 652.220 shall have a right of action against the employer for the recovery of: The amount of the unpaid wages to which the employee is entitled for the one year period preceding the commencement of the action; and An additional amount as liquidated damages equal to the amount referred…
In a civil action under ORS 652.230 or 659A.885 (1) alleging a violation of ORS 652.220, the employer may file a motion to disallow an award of compensatory and punitive damages. The court shall grant the motion if the employer demonstrates, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the employer: Completed, within three years before the date that the employe…
Where any statute or contract requires an employer to maintain the designated wage scale, it shall be unlawful to secretly pay a lower wage while purporting to pay the wage designated by statute or by contract.
A public employee who takes part without pay in a search or rescue operation at the request of any law enforcement agency, the Department of Transportation, the United States Forest Service or any local organization for civil defense, shall not forfeit wages while engaged in an operation for a period of not more than five days for each operation. If an opera…
As used in this section: “Home health care staff” means individuals who provide home health services. “Home health care staff” does not include: Home care workers, as defined in ORS 410.600; Direct caregivers employed by an in-home care agency as defined in ORS 443.305; Physicians; Nurse practitioners; Psychiatrists; Psychologists; Volunteers; or In…
As used in ORS 652.310 to 652.414, unless the context requires otherwise: “Employer” means any person who in this state, directly or through an agent, engages personal services of one or more employees and includes any successor to the business of any employer, or any lessee or purchaser of any employer’s business property for the continuance of the same bu…
As used in ORS 652.310 to 652.414, unless the context requires otherwise: “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. “Court” means a court of competent jurisdiction and proper venue to entertain a proceeding referred to in ORS 652.310 to 652.414. “Demand” means a written demand for payment made during business hours on an…
The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall enforce ORS 652.310 to 652.414 and to that end may: Investigate and attempt equitably to adjust controversies between employers and employees in respect of wage claims or alleged wage claims. Take assignments, in trust, of wage claims or judgments thereon, liens and other instruments of security …
In any case when the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries has received a wage claim complaint which the commissioner could seek to collect through court action, the commissioner may instead elect to seek collection of such claim through administrative proceedings in the manner provided in this section, subject to the employer’s right to request…
If the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries receives a valid wage claim filed against a contractor or a business subject to licensing under ORS chapter 701 for unpaid wages, the commissioner shall notify the Construction Contractors Board and the contractor or the business of the claim within 30 days of the commissioner’s receipt of the claim. …
A person operating a commercial establishment where food is cooked and served who holds a full on-premises sales license issued under ORS 471.175 is liable for all valid wage claims of individuals employed in the kitchen facilities and dining space of such establishment who are not employed by such person, if the wage claims cannot be enforced against the em…
If upon investigation by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, after taking assignments of any wage claims under ORS 652.330, it appears to the commissioner that the employer is representing to employees that the employer is able to pay wages for their services and that the employees are not being paid for their services, the commissioner m…
An employer may not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against an employee because: The employee has made a wage claim or discussed, inquired about or consulted an attorney or agency about a wage claim; The employee has caused to be instituted any proceedings under or related to ORS 652.310 to 652.414; The employee has testified or is about to …
An employer may not by special contract or any other means exempt the employer from any provision of or liability or penalty imposed by ORS 652.310 to 652.414 or any statute relating to the payment of wages, except insofar as the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries in writing approves a special contract or other arrangement between the employe…
Justice courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction with circuit courts over all cases mentioned in ORS 652.330 or 652.340. The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall prosecute all legal proceedings on the commissioner’s own official relation, but in the name of the State of Oregon.
The remedies provided by ORS 652.310 to 652.414 shall be additional to and not in substitution for and in no manner impair other remedies and may be enforced simultaneously or consecutively so far as not inconsistent with each other. No payment or tender after the filing of a criminal complaint or commencement of any proceeding by the Commissioner of the Bu…
The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may deduct and retain any moneys collected on each wage claim as costs, attorney fees or commissioner’s penalties. The amount deducted shall be paid into the General Fund after deducting actual costs and disbursements incurred in the prosecution of the wage claim. The commissioner may charge a claimant …
Subject to ORS 652.390, all moneys collected on civil judgments pursuant to ORS 652.330, or as a result of administrative proceedings pursuant to ORS 652.332, shall be paid to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries and, together with all other sums collected under ORS 652.310 to 652.414, be deposited in the State Treasury to become part of a …
The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall attempt for a period of not less than three years to make payment of wages collected under ORS 652.310 to 652.414 to the person entitled thereto. By July 30 of each year, the commissioner shall pay wages collected by the commissioner under ORS 652.310 to 652.414 and remaining unclaimed for a perio…
The Wage Security Fund is established separate and distinct from the General Fund. After withholding the actual shared costs of the Employment Department under ORS 657.462 (5)(b), all amounts received by the department pursuant to ORS 657.462 (5)(a) shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the Wage Security Fund. All income earned on moneys in t…
Notwithstanding any other provision of law: When an employee files a wage claim under this chapter for wages earned and unpaid, and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries: Determines that the employer against whom the claim was filed has ceased doing business and is without sufficient assets to pay the wage claim and the wage claim cannot o…
As used in ORS 652.420 to 652.445: “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. “Labor bureau” includes any agency, bureau, commission, board or officer in another state that performs functions substantially corresponding to those of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. The definitions of ORS 652.310 and …
The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may enter into agreements with the corresponding labor bureau of another state for the reciprocal enforcement and collection of wage claims, if the other state has a reciprocal statute similar to ORS 652.420 to 652.445 or otherwise authorizes the reciprocal enforcement and collection of wage claims in a …
Whenever a wage claim is assigned to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries in trust pursuant to ORS 652.330 and the employer or former employer upon whom demand for payment is made by an employee in this state has removed to another state, the commissioner may reassign the wage claim, with the approval of the employee, to the labor bureau of…
Whenever a labor bureau in another state, which has entered into a reciprocal agreement under ORS 652.425 with the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries and the agreement is in effect at the time, takes an assignment of a wage claim from an employee residing in the other state for services rendered in the other state to an employer or former emp…
Any agreement concluded by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall make provision for the transfer of funds collected pursuant to ORS 652.420 to 652.445 and for retention by the commissioner or the labor bureau in the other state of percentile amounts from the sums collected to defray the administrative costs of ORS 652.420 to 652.445. A…
Except as provided in ORS 652.440, all moneys collected pursuant to ORS 652.420 to 652.445, including costs, shall be paid to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries and be deposited in the State Treasury in the Wage Collection Account established by ORS 652.400. PRIORITY OF WAGE CLAIMS
Whenever the business or property of any person, company or corporation in this state shall be placed by any court in this state in the hands of a receiver, whether upon foreclosure or creditor’s bill, the receiver shall report immediately to the court appointing the receiver the amount due by the person, company or corporation, at the date of the receiver’s…
When the property of any company, cooperative association, corporation, firm or person is seized upon by any process of any court of this state, or when the business or property is placed in the hands of a receiver, or whenever any assignment for the benefit of creditors under the laws of this state is made, then in all such cases the debts owing to laborers…
If applicable under ORS 37.040, the Oregon Receivership Code controls over conflicting provisions of ORS 652.510 to 652.570.
The statement to be presented under ORS 652.510 shall be substantially in the following form: ______________________________________________________________________________ State of Oregon ) ) ss. County of _____, ) I, _____, being first duly sworn, say that _____ is indebted to me in the sum of ___ dollars over and above all just credits and setoffs, …
The person claiming the benefit of ORS 652.510 to 652.570 shall serve upon the debtor, or upon the officer, assignee or receiver for the debtor where personal service cannot be had, a copy of the verified claim. Thereafter the person receiving such statement shall report the amount of such claim to the court having jurisdiction of such officer, receiver or a…
Any person interested may contest all or any part of a claim mentioned in ORS 652.530, by filing in said court exceptions thereto, supported by affidavit, within 10 days from the filing of the report provided in ORS 652.530. Thereupon the claimant shall be required to establish the claim, by judgment in such court, before any part thereof shall be paid. Whe…
No attachment or execution shall be discharged nor shall the seizure or sale of property seized be abandoned, or assignee or receiver discharged, until every claimant presenting a claim under ORS 652.510 to 652.570 has been paid in full, or pro rata, as provided in ORS 652.510, or has consented to such discharge or abandonment.
Whenever any claim has been excepted to under ORS 652.540 and the claim is established by judgment and the court rendering the judgment is satisfied that the exceptions were made without probable cause or that the person so excepting could have ascertained with reasonable diligence that such claim was true and just, the claimant in such action shall be entit…
Every sale or transfer of any property in payment of any preexisting debt, or obligation, and every mortgage or lien created or executed to secure the payment of a preexisting debt, shall be void as against laborers or employees of such vendor, mortgagor, or other lien debtor, to the extent of their claims for wages, in the amount of $2,000, or 30 days of wa…
STATEMENTS RELATING TO EMPLOYEE’S SALARY AND DEDUCTIONS (Generally)
All persons, firms, partnerships, associations, cooperative associations, corporations, municipal corporations, the state and its political subdivisions, except the federal government and its agencies, employing, in this state, during any calendar month one or more persons, shall provide the employee on regular paydays and at other times payment of wages, sa…
There is hereby created a private cause of action for a violation of ORS 652.610 (3) for actual damages or $200, whichever is greater. In any such action the court may award to the prevailing party, in addition to costs and disbursements, reasonable attorney fees.
All persons, firms, partnerships, associations, cooperative associations, corporations, municipal corporations, the state and its political subdivisions thereof, except the federal government and its agencies employing, in this state, five or more persons, during any calendar month, upon the request of any employee or former employee, and upon five days’ not…
As used in this section, “public employee” and “public employer” have the meanings given those terms under ORS 243.650. When a public employee receives an erroneous overpayment of wages in an amount greater than the employee’s entitlement, the public employer may deduct the amount of the overpayment from wages earned by the public employee provided that: T…
As used in ORS 652.630 to 652.640, unless the context requires otherwise: “Bonus” means an increase in the agreed rate of compensation based on the amount of time worked during a perishable agricultural product season or based on the amount of a perishable agricultural product that is harvested. “Labor contractor” means a farm labor contractor as defined i…
Every producer, or agent of the producer, who employs a labor contractor to provide a working crew for harvesting perishable agricultural products or who offers a bonus to those persons who harvest perishable agricultural products shall cause to be conspicuously posted and maintained on the premises where the agricultural products are to be harvested a notic…
Each time a person who harvests perishable agricultural products receives compensation payments at a regular pay period or upon termination of employment, the producer, or agent of the producer, or, if the person is an employee of a labor contractor, the labor contractor shall furnish to such person a written statement itemizing the total payment and each de…
All moneys collected by an employer from employees or retained from their wages for the purpose of providing for or furnishing to such employees medical and surgical attention, hospital care, X-rays, ambulance, nursing or any related service or care contingent upon sickness or injury pursuant to a contract are trust funds and shall be placed and kept in sepa…
No employer shall retain, directly or indirectly, from employees or from their wages any part of the money collected or retained under ORS 652.710 for use or benefit of the employer. No employer shall apply, directly or indirectly, any portion of the money so collected to the employer’s cost of compensation or to the cost of any medical, surgical or hospita…
As used in this section: “Employer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 656.005. “Personnel records” does not include records of an individual relating to the conviction, arrest or investigation of conduct constituting a violation of the criminal laws of this state or another state or the United States, confidential reports from previous employers or re…
As used in this section and ORS 652.753, “employee” and “employer” have the meanings given those terms in ORS 652.210. Unless prohibited by federal law, an employer shall, within three business days of receiving a notice of an inspection from a federal agency compelling the employer to provide access to records of forms and any other documentation used by t…
The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall generate and make available on the Bureau of Labor and Industries website a template for a notice that employers may use to comply with the requirements of ORS 652.752. The commissioner shall make the template available in English and in each of the five most widely used non-English languages in th…
As used in this section, “employer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 652.210. The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall adopt rules, in collaboration with business representatives and with groups that advocate for low income people, to require employers to provide written notice to each employee about the state and federal earned in…
In addition to any other penalty provided by law, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may assess a civil penalty not to exceed: $1,000 against any person who violates ORS 652.020, 652.110, 652.140, 652.145, 652.260, 652.610 (4) or 652.750 or any rule adopted under those statutes. $500 against any person who violates ORS 652.610 (5) or an…
Violation of ORS 652.020 (5)(b) or (d) is a Class A violation. Every day’s violation is deemed a separate offense. Any person, body corporate, general manager or employer who violates ORS 652.040 or causes ORS 652.040 to be violated commits a Class C misdemeanor. Violation of ORS 652.110 or 652.120 is a Class A violation. Violation of ORS 652.130 by any e…