ORS 653.601: Definitions for ORS 653.601 to 653.661.

As used in ORS 653.601 to 653.661: (1)(a) “Employee” means an individual who renders personal services at a fixed rate to an employer if the employer either pays or agrees to pay for personal services or permits the individual to perform personal services. (b) “Employee” includes, but is not limited to: (A) An individual who is paid on a piece-rate basis or the basis of the number of operations accomplished or quantity produced or handled; (B) Individuals paid on an hourly, salary or commission basis; (C) Individuals for whom withholding is required under ORS 316.162 to 316.221; (D) Home care workers as defined in ORS 410.600; and (E) Personal support workers as defined in ORS 410.600. (c) “Employee” does not include: (A) An employee who receives paid sick time under federal law; (B) An independent contractor; (C) A participant in a work training program administered under a state or federal assistance program; (D) A participant in a work-study program that provides students in secondary or post-secondary educational institutions with employment opportunities for financial assistance or vocational training; (E) A railroad worker exempted under the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act; and (F) An individual employed by that individual’s parent, spouse or child. (2)(a) “Employer” means any person that employs one or more employees working anywhere in this state, a political subdivision of the state and any county, city, district, authority, public corporation or entity, and any instrumentality of a county, city, district, authority, public corporation or entity, organized and existing under law or charter. (b) “Employer” includes an employer located in a city with a population exceeding 500,000. (c) “Employer” does not include the federal government. (3)(a) “Employer located in a city with a population exceeding 500,000” includes, but is not limited to, an employer that maintains any office, store, restaurant or establishment in that city. (b) “Employer located in a city with a population exceeding 500,000” does not include an employer that maintains only a seasonal farm stand or a trailer that is used temporarily on a construction site for office purposes only. (4) “Family member” has the meaning given that term in ORS 659A.150. (5)(a) “Front-load,” except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, means to assign and make available a certain number of hours of sick time to an employee as soon as the employee becomes eligible to use sick time and on the first day of the immediately subsequent year without regard to an accrual rate. (b) For employees employed by an employer for less than a full year, “front-load” means to assign and make available to an employee as soon as the employee becomes eligible to use sick time a number of hours of sick time that is the pro rata percentage of the hours the employee would be entitled to for an entire year based on the number of hours the employee was actually employed by the employer for the year. (6) “Paid sick time” means time off: (a) That is provided to an employee by an employer that employs 10 or more employees; (b) That may be used for the purposes specified in ORS 653.616; and (c) That is compensated at the regular rate of pay and without reductions in benefits, including but not limited to health care benefits, that the employee earns from the employer at the time the employee uses the paid sick time. (7) “Sick time” means time during which an employee is permitted to be absent from work for a reason authorized under ORS 653.616 without a reduction in benefits, including but not limited to health care benefits, that the employee earns from the employer. (8) “Year” includes any consecutive 12-month period, such as a calendar year, a tax year, a fiscal year, a contract year or the 12-month period beginning on the anniversary of the date of employment of the employee. [2015 c.537 §2; 2017 c.520 §1; 2018 c.75 §26]