Time with the kids.

Whenever a parent gets a new bundle of joy in their life, they quite naturally want to spend time with them. For a mother, this comes most often as maternity leave. But what about a father? Does he get to take leave to be with the child?

In Oregon, the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) is a law that provides covered employees of covered employers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year to ,among other things, take care of immediate family members.

For an employee to be counted as covered for OFLA they must have worked at a covered employer for at least 180 days and have averaged 25 hours per week or more of work hours. A covered employer is one who has 25 or more employees in the current or previous year. This means that if the employee is covered, and works for a covered employer than the OFLA applies to them.

When OFLA applies, an employee may take 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 1 year period to, among other reasons, care for a new child, adopt a child, or care for a new foster care placed child. These rights apply equally to both mothers and fathers. This means that both the father and the mother of a child are entitled to take OFLA leave

There are restriction put in place as to when notice must be given, and if vacation pay must be given, but these are fact specific. There are also a great many other situations where OFLA applies. If you have a situation where you think OFLA should apply, and believe your employer isn’t complying with the law, feel free to contact the office for your complimentary consultation.