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Paid Sick Leave Measure Poised To Advance In Oregon Legislature

Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.
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Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.

A measure that would require many Oregon employers to provide paid sick leave is poised to advance in Salem.

The bill, a compromise over the original proposal, is scheduled for a vote Thursday morning in a key legislative committee.

Some small business owners argued that the measure would put them at a disadvantage because they have so few workers that they can't afford to pay the ones who aren't actually there, be they on vacation or sick.

So the compromise at this point seems to be that the measure only applies to places where there are ten or more employees.

The measure would require eligible employers to offer up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. Efforts to pass a statewide paid sick leave requirement in Olympia fell short this year.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.