Oregon labor laws: minimum wage, overtime, leave, final pay and breaks

Where your workplace sits decides your rate

Oregon splits its general minimum wage into three bands written into state law. The Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) applies the Portland metro rate to any job located inside the urban growth boundary drawn around Portland, the standard rate to most of the state, and a lower rate to eighteen counties such as Baker, Coos, Klamath, Malheur and Umatilla. The bands are pinned to each other: Portland sits $1.25 above the standard figure and the non-urban rate $1.00 below it. What counts is the work location, not the employer's head office or your home address, so two warehouses of the same company, one inside the boundary and one in Umatilla County, pay different floors.

The gap adds up. Full time at $16.80 pays $34,944 a year; the same schedule at $14.55 pays $30,264, a difference of $4,680. Minors earn the same rate as adults.

What the minimum wage raise is worth to you

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Hours per week

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Rate in Oregon now

$15.55

Rate on January 1, 2026	$15.05
Rate in force now	$15.55
Extra pay a year since January	$780
Next change	none announced

See every state rate →

The July reset and the tip rule

Most states raise wages on January 1. Oregon adjusts the standard rate to the consumer price index and applies it on July 1, then derives the two other bands from it. A worker who starts a job in May will therefore see a raise before the summer. Tipped workers are part of the same system with nothing subtracted: BOLI states plainly that tip credits are illegal, so a Portland server earns $16.80 an hour from the employer and keeps tips on top. Federal law would allow a cash wage of $2.13; Oregon does not. Tipped wage rules elsewhere vary widely.

Sick time, OFLA and Paid Leave Oregon

Sick time builds at one hour per 30 worked, so a full-time employee reaches the 40-hour annual cap after about 30 weeks; over a year the raw accrual would be 69 hours, so the cap binds. The hours are paid at employers with 10 or more Oregon employees, or 6 or more with a Portland location; smaller firms must still protect the time, unpaid. Paid Leave Oregon is a separate insurance program that replaces part of your wages, up to all of them for lower earners, during up to 12 weeks for a new child, a relative's serious illness or your own, with up to two extra weeks for pregnancy limitations. The older Oregon Family Leave Act, at employers with 25 or more workers, keeps unpaid protected leave for situations such as a sick child or bereavement. The federal FMLA, with its 1,250-hour test, runs alongside both.

Breaks during the shift

Oregon is one of the few states that requires paid rest for adults: ten minutes for each four-hour segment, two in a standard eight-hour day, plus an unpaid 30-minute meal when the work period lasts six hours or more and you are relieved of all duties. Break laws in other states are often silent on rest time.

Last paycheck deadlines and the penalty

A fired employee must be paid by the end of the next business day. Someone who quits with at least 48 hours' notice, not counting weekends and holidays, is paid on the last day; with less notice, within five business days or by the next payday, whichever comes first. Vacation is paid out only if a policy or agreement promises it. Late wages are costly for employers: penalty wages of eight times the regular rate for each day unpaid, up to 30 days. For someone earning $20 an hour, that ceiling reaches $4,800. Claims go to BOLI, whose staff rule on the specific situation.