OREGON: Bereavement leave will be protected under OFLA

The categories of protected leave under the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) will be expanded to include bereavement leave as of January 1, 2014, pursuant to HB 2950, which was recently signed by Governor Kitzhaber. Under the new category, employees can take protected leave to deal with the death of a family member by: (1) attending the funeral (or funeral alternative); (2) making necessary arrangements; or (3) grieving. The definition of family member is the same as for all other categories of OFLA leave. The bereavement leave must be completed within sixty days of when the employee receives notice of the family member’s death, and the employee’s leave is capped at two weeks per death of a family member. All bereavement leave taken will count toward the employee’s total OFLA entitlement (12, 24 or 36 weeks, as applicable). The Bureau of Labor and Industries will be adopting rules to implement this law, so stay tuned for further developments on OFLA’s new bereavement leave.

Tips: Keep in mind that bereavement leave is not included in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), so any bereavement leave taken would count solely as OFLA leave. In the next few months, you should set aside some time to update your handbook, applicable policies and/or forms to include this new category of OFLA leave. We will also be updating our Model Policies and Forms, so keep an eye out for our revised content. If you’d like your Vigilant staff representative to assist with the revisions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.