ORS 657.155: Benefit eligibility conditions; rules.

(1) An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the Director of the Employment Department finds that: (a) The individual has registered for work at and thereafter has continued to report at an employment office in accordance with such rules as the director may prescribe. However, the director may, by rule, waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this subsection as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such other types of cases or situations with respect to which the director finds that compliance with such requirements would be oppressive, or would be inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter; provided, that no such rule conflicts with ORS 657.255. (b) The individual has made a claim for benefits with respect to such week in accordance with ORS 657.260. (c) The individual is able to work, is available for work, and is actively seeking and unable to obtain suitable work. No individual participating in a community work and training program, as defined in ORS 411.855, shall, solely by reason thereof, be unavailable for work within the meaning of this section. (d) The individual has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week, unless the Governor has waived the required waiting period as provided in ORS 401.186. (e) The individual is not disqualified from benefits or ineligible for benefits under any other section of this chapter. (f) The individual is qualified for benefits under ORS 657.150. (2)(a) An individual who leaves the individual’s normal labor market area for the major portion of any week is presumed to be unavailable for work within the meaning of this section. (b) The presumption described in paragraph (a) of this subsection may be overcome if the individual establishes to the satisfaction of the director that the individual: (A) Has conducted a bona fide search for work and has been reasonably accessible to suitable work in the labor market area in which the individual spent the major portion of the week to which the presumption applies; or (B) Was required to be outside the individual’s normal labor market area to apply for suitable employment within the individual’s normal labor market. (3) The director shall either promptly allow credit or pay benefits for any week for which benefits are claimed or promptly give notice of denial thereof in the manner provided in ORS 657.267 and 657.268. [Amended by 1955 c.655 §7; 1961 c.631 §8; 1967 c.130 §11; 1973 c.398 §1; 1977 c.295 §3; 1979 c.521 §1; 1993 c.778 §11; 2008 c.23 §3; 2015 c.103 §1] Sec. 4. Sections 1 and 2 [401.186] of this 2008 Act and the amendments to ORS 657.155 by section 3 of this 2008 Act become operative when federal law permits without penalty a waiver under section 2 of this 2008 Act of the one-week waiting period required by ORS 657.155. [2008 c.23 §4]