This week will see the first benefit payments under Oregon’s new program for paid family and medical leave.
About 1,700 applications have been approved by the Employment Department, which plans the first payments starting Wednesday, Sept. 13. About 3,100 more applications have been received, and 9,000 applications are awaiting approval or disapproval.
Program director Karen Madden Humelbaugh says many applications are pending because applicants have not furnished all the documents required to support their requests. She said a checklist is posted on the website paidleaveoregon.gov.
Oregon is one of eight states and Washington, D.C., with paid family leave, and just one of three states with safe leave available for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and stalking. The other broad categories are for medical and family leave, either for an individual employee or family members as defined by Oregon law.
The other states with paid leave: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington. Colorado is scheduled to join in 2024, and Delaware, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota in 2026.
Although categorial statistics are not yet available, Humelbaugh said the number of applications for safe leave is triple what had been projected. But they still account for only about 1% of total applications under the program.
The program also allows paid leave for parents to bond with new children through birth, adoption or foster care placement.
“Really, no two states are the same,” she told reporters during a virtual briefing on Sept. 7. “So we do not know for sure how many benefit applications we are going to receive, what type of individuals will apply in the coming months, whether they are high- or low-wage earners, and how long they are going to apply to take benefits.”
Specific benefits
Maximum benefits are $1,523 per week for 12 weeks in any 12-month period. The amount is capped at 120% of Oregon’s average weekly wage. Lower-wage earners will get proportionately more benefits than higher-income earners.
The benefit limits are 16 weeks if an employee draws from more than one category, and 18 weeks if there are complications stemming from pregnancy or childbirth.
Employees are eligible if they have earned at least $1,000 in each of four of five quarters preceding the benefit year, and earnings can be from more than one job. Employees began contributing .6%, and employers .4% — up to a maximum of 1% of total wages — into the fund starting back on Jan. 1. Employers with fewer than 25 employees are exempt from employer contributions.
Employees are supposed to file a 30-day notice before they plan to take leave, and employers are scheduled to get both written and online notices from the Employment Department so they can confirm the employment of applicants. There is a provision for emergency leave that allows a three-day notice, but it must be followed up in writing.
About 15% of Oregon employees and 18% of employers are covered by benefit plans that the Employment Department deemed as equivalent to those under the state program.
Oregon lawmakers approved a family-leave law back in 1991, although the 12 weeks were unpaid, and expanded it over the years to cover survivors of domestic and sexual violence and stalking.
A paid leave program was approved in 2019. Lawmakers extended the deadlines in 2021, after the Employment Department coped with record applications for unemployment benefits stemming from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020. Business shutdowns and curtailments prompted Congress to approve new programs for people, such as self-employed and gig workers, who did not qualify for unemployment benefits previously.
The department also activated a new computer system to replace one that had been in use since 1993 and relied on technology that dated back to 1959. The new system is known as Frances Online, named in honor of Frances Perkins, a former U.S. labor secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first woman named to a presidential Cabinet.
“The rollout is going well due in part to our preparation for many different scenarios,” she said.
Startup details
Although average call waiting times have increased to about two minutes, Humelbaugh said staffers are prepared to respond quickly to telephone calls and email and online inquiries. The fastest responses, she said, are through accounts that applicants set up themselves on Frances Online.
Humelbaugh said the program has repaid a loan from the state’s tax-supported general fund for startup costs. She said the agency was able to start accepting applications in August, ahead of schedule, because of the repayment and calculations of how much would be needed in the fund to pay initial benefit claims.
She said if any further changes in the law are required for program operation, an advisory panel and key legislators will know in advance of the 2024 session, which opens Feb. 5 and run for 35 days.
“We do not have enough data yet to understand fully what that picture is,” she said. “But we do not want any surprises.”
