Oregon will join Washington and eleven other states in 2023 in offering paid family leave to all workers.
Concerns about remote workers living out-of-state or employees working across state borders have surfaced as Oregon firms get ready for the introduction of paid family leave. Where do workers carry out their work in this circumstance? The Oregon Employment Department and the Washington Employment Security Department, fortunately, just issued a joint letter offering some assistance, which contains the following points.
- Employers and employees are only required to go with only one of the state systems.
- The place where the job is conducted will mostly determine which state will benefit from an employee’s contributions.
- All of an employee’s pay will be reported to Oregon if they physically complete all of their duties there. “All of the employee’s earnings and hours” will be recorded in Washington if the employee physically completes all work there.
- When an employee routinely works in Oregon and Washington, among other states, the employer should consider where its headquarters are, or, if there are none, from which state the employee’s work is managed and directed. The employee will relocate to that state if the inquiry only leads to one.
- Employees who labor across several states for a business that does not have a base of operations or a central location for direction and control in Oregon or Washington will be required to report to their home state.
What This Means For Employers
Employers may want to consider thinking about whether updated employee information, such as a worker’s state of residence, is necessary. Many workers could have moved but didn’t let their employers know. Employers might wish to request that employees update their personal data.
Employers with operations in both Oregon and Washington who also have workers who commute between the two states would want to think about declaring a base of operations for the purposes of paid leave payments in either Oregon or Washington.
Employers can also consider about informing workers to which state their payments to the paid leave scheme would be allocated. When applying for paid leave benefits in Oregon or Washington, this will prevent employee misunderstanding.
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