Oregon Paid Family Leave

Background 

The state of Oregon’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program took effect in 2023. Employees and, if applicable, employers fund the paid family leave program. All employers are responsible for withholding premiums from employee wages. Employers with 25 or more employees must also contribute. You may be exempt from participating if you offer a private paid family leave plan to employees that have been approved by Oregon Employment Department.

Begin handling PFL contributions on January 1, 2023. Eligible employees can begin applying for benefits on September 3, 2023. 

For more information, check out the Paid Leave Oregon website or view our blog article “Oregon Paid Family Leave: Everything You Need to Know About the New Law.” 

Patriot Software will calculate this tax for all payroll customers, and collect, deposit, and file this tax for Full Service Payroll customers. 

How much is the Oregon PFL premium?

Both employees and employers with 25 or more employees contribute an Oregon PFL premium, split 60/40:

• The total combined tax rate for 2024 is 1.0% per employee. 
• You can withhold up to 60% of 1% (i.e., 0.60%) from each employee’s wages, up to $132,900 for 2023. You can decide to pay part or all of the employee share. 
• If you have 25 or more employees, contribute 40% of 1% (i.e., 0.40%) up to $132,900. If you have fewer than 25 employees, you can choose to contribute 0.40% for an assistance grant. 

To determine if you have 25 or more employees (including out-of-state employees), use your monthly employee counts for the previous year. Monthly employee counts are based on the number of employees on your payroll for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. Add together your monthly employee counts for January – December and divide by 12 to get your average count. If the average is 25 or more, you are responsible for the full 1.0%. 

Here’s a breakdown of Oregon PFL premiums:

Setting up Oregon PFL

As a new Patriot customer, you will need to answer a few questions in the payroll wizard. Existing customers can find these questions under Settings > Payroll Settings > Paid Family and Medical Leave.

Are you required to pay the 40% employer share of the Oregon Paid Leave contribution?

• Choose “Yes” if you have 25 or more employees. You are required to contribute the employer share of the premium.
• Choose “No” if you have fewer than 25 employees. You are not required to contribute the employer share of the premium. 

In either case, you must still collect and remit the employees’ share of premiums and meet reporting requirements. 

If you select “Yes,” you will be asked, “Do you want to pay more than the minimum required employer share?” 

• If you want to pay more than the 40% employer share of 1.0%, select “Yes.” Then, choose your desired percentage of employer and employee contributions. 
• If you want to pay the 40% employer share of 1.0% (i.e., 0.40%) per employee, select “No.” 

If you select “No, I am exempt,” you will be asked two questions:

1. “Would you still like to pay the employer portion of the tax?”
   1. If you want to pay the employer portion for an assistance grant, select “Yes.” Then, choose your desired percentage and click “Save.”
   2. If you do not want to pay the optional employer portion, select “No” and click “Save.”
2. “Do you want to pay a portion of the employees’ contributions?”
   1. If you want to pay part of your employees’ 0.60% tax rate, select “Yes.” Then, choose your desired percentage and click “Save.”
   2. If you do not want to pay any part of the employee’s share, select “No” and click “Save.”

Marking exemptions from Oregon Paid Family Leave

If you have an approved alternative plan, you can mark your business as exempt from withholding Oregon Paid Family Leave from all employee wages. Or, you may have some employees who are exempt from withholding. 

Here’s how to mark your company or an individual employee exempt:

Company exemption from OR PFL

Unless you have an approved alternative plan, all employers must participate in the Oregon PFL program. 

If you have an approved alternative plan, you can mark your business as exempt. To mark your business as exempt:

• Select “No, I am exempt” when asked, “Are you required to pay the 40% employer share of the Oregon Paid Leave contribution?”
• Click “Save.”

Updating company exemption status 

You can change your answers by going to Settings > Paid Family Medical Leave > Oregon Paid Leave Tax and selecting, “No, I am exempt” to the question: Are you required to pay the 40% employer share of the Oregon Paid Leave contribution?

 Individual employee exemption from OR PFL

To mark an employee exempt, go to Payroll > Employee List > Select Employee Name > Advanced Tax Settings > Oregon Paid Leave. 

Click the “Add Oregon Paid Leave Exemption Status” button and change to “Exempt.” Add the date the exemption began and click “Save.”

This will prevent the employee and corresponding employer’s share of tax from calculating for this particular employee.

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