Overview
The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave per year for qualifying employees. OFLA is administered by the employer and runs separately from Paid Leave Oregon (OR-PL).
For detailed legislative requirements, see our Legislative Guidance.
How to Use
Throughout this guidance, look for these labels to quickly identify what actions may be needed:
✅ Automatic: System handles this automatically, no action needed
📝 Configuration Note: How the policy is set up in the platform
💡 Best Practice: AbsenceSoft recommendation for optimal management
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: User must complete this action or track elsewhere
How AbsenceSoft Manages the Law
AbsenceSoft manages this law through 2 policies. Only one policy applies to a given case, determined by whether the employee is an airline flight crew member.
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Policy Name - Oregon Family Leave Act
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Policy Code - OR-OFLA
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Benefit Type - Job Protection
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Policy Name - Oregon Family Leave Act for Airline Flight Crew
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Policy Code - OR-OFLA-FC
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Benefit Type - Job Protection
Employer Coverage Requirements
Coverage Threshold Amounts
Refer to Legislative Guidance for details.
📝 Configuration Note: The OR-OFLA policies are configured to require a minimum of 25 active employees with Work State = Oregon, but do not enforce the associated 20-calendar-workweek lookback timeframe.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Manually override eligibility for employees where coverage thresholds may not align with information sent on the employee demographic file.
Employee Eligibility
Length of Service and Hours Requirements
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OR-OFLA-Flight Crew
✅ Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically evaluates the Employer Size, Length of Service, Hours Worked, and flight crew membership criteria at the time of case eligibility determination.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Manually override OR-OFLA-FC eligibility for employees who have not worked or been paid at least 60% of the monthly guarantee.
Qualifying Family Members
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
📝 Configuration Note: A Child over 18 with Impairment relationship is configured for the Sick Child and Family Health Condition absence reasons to support impaired children who are over the age of 18.
Special Family Relationship Requirements
AbsenceSoft does not have an "Affinity" relationship available.
📝 Configuration Note: For employees requesting bereavement leave for a person related by affinity, users should select the closest available relationship (such as "Individual with Close Association Equivalent to a Family Member") and document the affinity relationship in case notes.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Employers may require employees to attest in writing that they have a family-like relationship with an individual related by affinity. AbsenceSoft has a Leave Act Attestation Form (OFLAATTESTATION) configured, but it does not automatically attach to any communication template; employers who require the attestation must manually add it.
Leave Entitlements and Duration
Entitlement Overview
OFLA entitlements vary by absence reason, with a combined maximum of 12 work weeks in a 52-week Sunday Forward period across Bereavement, Sick Child, Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure, and Family Health Condition absence reasons. Pregnancy/Maternity has a separate 12 week entitlement not shared with any other absence reasons.
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Bereavement
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Entitlement
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up to 2 work weeks per case;
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up to 4 work weeks per 52-week Sunday Forward period;
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usage contributes to 12 week combined entitlement maximum with Sick Child, Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure, and Family Health Condition
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Sick Child
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Entitlement - Up to 12 work weeks per 52-week Sunday Forward period;
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shares 12 week combined entitlement maximum with Bereavement, Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure, and Family Health Condition
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Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure
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Entitlement - Up to 12 work weeks per 52-week Sunday Forward period;
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shares 12 week combined entitlement maximum with Bereavement, Sick Child, and Family Health Condition
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Family Health Condition
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Entitlement - Up to 12 work weeks per 52-week Sunday Forward period;
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shares 12 week combined entitlement maximum with Bereavement, Sick Child, and Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure
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Pregnancy/Maternity
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Entitlement - Up to 12 work weeks per 52-week Sunday Forward period;
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gets its own 12 weeks - does not share entitlement with other absence reasons
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✅ Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically tracks the shared 12-week pool across Bereavement, Sick Child, Care for Child due to Place of Care/School Closure, and Family Health Condition. Pregnancy/Maternity entitlement is tracked separately.
Entitlement Rules
📝 Configuration Note: OFLA entitlement is measured on a 52-week Sunday Forward period, aligning with Paid Leave Oregon (OR-PL).
Bereavement
Bereavement leave is limited to 2 work weeks per qualifying loss event and 4 work weeks total per leave year, drawing from the overall 12-week shared pool. AbsenceSoft cannot identify unique loss events across cases, so the 2-week per-event limit is satisfied by configuring 2 weeks of entitlement per case. This assumes each qualifying loss will be submitted as its own case.
✅ Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically tracks the 2-work-week per-case entitlement, the 4-work-week annual cap, and the shared 12-week pool. Leave will be automatically denied within a given case once the 2-week per-case entitlement is exhausted.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Bereavement leave must be used within 60 days of the notice of death being given to the employee. AbsenceSoft does not track this 60-day window; case managers must review documentation to confirm the leave falls within the 60-day period and deny the policy as necessary.
💡 Best Practice: Ensure each qualifying loss event is submitted as a separate bereavement case so that per-event entitlement is tracked correctly.
Family Health Condition
The Family Health Condition absence reason under OFLA applies to the serious health condition of a child only. This absence reason was added to OFLA following the July 2024 amendments, which redefined "Sick Child" to include serious health conditions. Because Sick Child is an OFLA-only absence reason, using it for a serious health condition of a child would create a non-concurrency conflict with OR-PL, where Family Health Condition covers the same scenario as a paid benefit. The separate Family Health Condition absence reason resolves this conflict and only contains the child relationship, so it will fail eligibility for any other family member selected.
📝 Configuration Note: When an employee's child has a serious health condition, the case should be submitted under Family Health Condition (not Sick Child) so that FMLA, OR-OFLA, and OR-PL can run without triggering a non-concurrency conflict. Sick Child should be used for non-serious health conditions only.
💡 Best Practice: Communicate clearly that serious health conditions of a child should be submitted under Family Health Condition for OFLA, not Sick Child, to ensure correct concurrent policy application with OR-PL and FMLA.
How Leave Can Be Taken
Refer to Legislative Guidance for details.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: OFLA allows an employer to deny concurrent leave when two or more family members employed by the same employer request leave for the same event. AbsenceSoft does not automate this determination; case managers must manually review OFLA requests to confirm whether this limitation applies.
Pay and Benefits
Benefit Coordination
💡 Best Practice: Employers may determine the order in which an employee uses accrued paid time off during OFLA leave, provided the employee is notified before leave begins (or within 5 business days for unforeseeable leave).
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: No agreement-tracking functionality exists in the platform for PTO application; employers should track the order of PTO use outside the platform, and may need to update communications to include this provision.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: For the Pregnancy/Maternity absence reason, an employee receiving workers' compensation benefits is not eligible for OFLA unless the employee refuses an offered return to light duty or modified duty. AbsenceSoft does not evaluate this exception automatically; case managers must manually review workers' compensation status and override eligibility accordingly.
Interaction with other Policies
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
📝 Configuration Note: OR-OFLA is configured as Not Concurrent With OR-PL and OR-PL-JP.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: If both policies are eligible on a case, leave managers must adjudicate so there are no overlapping approved date ranges, or deny one or both policies.
📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft does not configure concurrent entitlement tracking between OR-OFLA and Oregon Military Family Leave (OMFLA).
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: OFLA entitlement may run concurrently with OMFLA when the employee is eligible for OFLA and has remaining OFLA entitlement available. The platform does not support this configuration; leave managers must manually monitor entitlement usage across both policies.
Required Paperwork/Communication
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: The Oregon Family Leave Act Attestation Form (OFLAATTESTATION) is configured as core paperwork but does not automatically attach to the Eligibility Rights & Responsibilities communication, since not all customers require it. If your organization requires this attestation, it must be manually added to your Eligibility Rights & Responsibilities communication.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Updates to existing paperwork items can occur. When updates happen, they are automatically applied to paperwork unless the client has customized. Clients with customizations on the relevant paperwork will need to review to determine how to adopt the new paperwork and apply any new customizations to the updated paperwork manually.
Need Help?
For questions about policy configuration or case management, contact your AbsenceSoft support team or consult the Legislative Guidance for compliance details.