Oregon Family Leave Act Essay

In 1993, The state of Oregon passed The Oregon Family Leave Act. This act requires to provide eligible workers with protected leave to care for themselves or family members in cases such as death, illness, injury, childbirth, adoption, or foster placement. () There are certain specific requirements an employee must meet in order to receive time off from work. The fundamental purpose of the act is to ensure employees have the choice to withdraw from work under special circumstances without worrying about losing their job and/or seniority.* The Oregon Family Leave Act is a great safety net for those who are employed with big companies, and have been at with their companies for an extended period of time.*. The requirements for eligibility for
The requirements are put in place for a reason and have been this way for years; however, the requirements should be changed to accommodate to all working individuals in Oregon. Based on the set of requirements needed to even qualify for any type of leave, as stated earlier, the individual must have worked there at least 180 days. Sometimes events occur such as pregnancy, an illness in the family, or an unexpected death. These events can happen to anyone at any time. Regardless of full time or part time employment, a new employee is not protected in case of an unexpected circumstance. Another issue that is similar to this, is the fact that a worker must have an average of 25 hours per week worked during the period of them working there. This requirement leaves out at least 20% of all workers.() Part time workers in Oregon average about a 21 hour work week,() which is four hours less than the qualification. Lastly, businesses must have a minimum of 25 permanent workers for the employees to qualify for the act. This qualification means anyone working for a small company, regardless of full time or part time status is not eligible for the