Updated 9 a.m. Dec. 24: This post has been updated to clarify who is excluded from the law.

With the passage of Senate Bill 454 and the governor's signature, Oregon this year became the fourth state to require employers to provide paid sick leave.

Starting Jan. 1, 2016, the law requires employers with 10 or more workers to give them at least 40 hours of paid sick leave - essentially, five days a year. Employers with nine or fewer workers must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick time.

In Portland, the threshold is lower. Employers with six or more workers must provide paid leave while those with five or less must offer unpaid sick time. Lawmakers carved out an exception for Portland, which passed its own sick leave ordinance two years earlier, and effectively canceled out Eugene's law, which was due to take effect July 1 and would have applied to all employers, regardless of size.

The new law applies to both private and public sector employers, but excludes the federal government. The vast majority of Oregon's workforce is covered by the law, meaning full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal workers will accrue sick time.

Though business groups generally opposed the new mandate, proponents said it would especially help low-wage workers, citing a study that found nearly half of private sector workers in Oregon don't earn sick days.

The statute makes limited exceptions for independent contractors, certain work-training program and work-study program participants, and individuals employed by their parent, spouse or child.

With Oregon joining California, Connecticut and Massachusetts, The Oregonian/OregonLive turned to two local lawyers versed in employment law for more details.

Following is an edited conversation with Shenoa Payne, a Portland attorney who represents employees, and Jillian Pollock, a Lake Oswego attorney who represents employers.

Q. How big of a deal is the new law?

Payne: It is quite an expansion because it applies to all employers throughout the state, not just Portland.

Pollock: I think this is moving the needle a lot. Even those employers that already have leave policies in place need to revisit those to make sure they comply with the new laws.

In terms of bookkeeping, I don't think it's a major burden. It's keeping track of how many hours of sick time the employee has accrued and keeping track of how many sick hours the employee has used.

Jillian Pollock (left) and Shenoa Payne.

Q. Who is eligible to receive paid sick time?

Payne: Any employee who has worked for a qualifying employer for at least 91 calendar days may use sick time that has accrued. If you are an existing employee on January 1st, you can start using your sick leave as soon as it accrues. It accrues at one hour for every 30 hours you work or 1.3 hours for every 40 hours you work. The employer can decide which applies.

Sick time can be taken in hourly increments, unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on the employer, in which case the employer has the burden of showing that.

Pollock: This is just a floor. A smaller employer could always offer paid sick time and may want to do that to attract and retain employees.

Q. What can paid sick time be used for?

Payne: Paid sick time or unpaid sick time can be used for physical or mental illness, injuries, or medical appointments for treatment or preventative care.

It can be used for your own health condition or care of a family member with any of those conditions.

Pollock: It also can be used in certain situations involving domestic relations violence - stalking and sexual assault. If you have a situation where an employee is a victim of domestic violence and needs to meet with law enforcement or go to a court hearing or seek victim's counseling, that employee can use sick time. Employees can also use it if they have a child sick at home, and the child can't be left alone.

Sick time seminars for employers

The Bureau of Labor and Industries will hold a series of statewide seminars in early 2016 for employers who want to learn about Oregon's new sick time law.

Seminars from January to March will explain the details of expanded protections enacted by the 2015 Legislature. A total of 26 two-hour sessions are planned in 19 cities from Jan. 6 through March 16.

Registration is $25 per person. Employers may reserve a spot by emailing the agency at

.

Though meeting locations are still being secured, details on days, times and cities are available on the agency's

. Further information: (971) 673-0824.

Q. What defines a family member?

Payne: "Family member" under the new law is defined the same as under the Oregon Family Medical Leave Act - it includes spouses, parents and children (whether biological, adoptive or foster), grandparents and grandchildren, parents-in-law, and anyone the employee has a legal parental responsibility for.

Q. When is medical verification required to take paid sick time?

Pollock: It's never required. But an employer can ask for medical verification if an employee has used sick time for four or more scheduled work days.

Payne: The employer can request medical verification but the employer must pay for any costs associated with that medical verification. The employer also may require it if an employee is abusing sick time - for example, if there is a pattern of absence or abuse.

An employer can also request medical verification if an employee fails to provide notice. If sick time is foreseeable, as with a medical appointment, you're supposed to give notice that is reasonable. If you wake up sick, you're supposed to give notice as soon as possible.

Q. What is your sense of how well both parties -- employers and employees -- are prepared for the new law?

Payne: I don't have sense of that at all. I would hope employers are being educated about their responsibilities because if they are not, an employee can bring an action with the Bureau of Labor and Industries for failure to provide sick time or if an employer retaliates against an employee for requesting sick time. Employers really need to understand their obligations and employees need to understand their rights.

Pollock: In my practice, we've seen a varied response. A small percentage, maybe 20 percent, were aware the Legislature was looking into enacting a paid or unpaid sick leave law, so they weren't surprised when the law was passed. Some, again roughly 20 percent, were completely surprised when they first learned about it in the last month or two. The majority was in the middle -they knew something was afoot but didn't know if it would impact their business.

I went out to a client's workplace this week and I think all of the employees knew there was a new law for their benefit, but they really didn't know how expansive it was. I started going through a list of permissible reasons for using paid sick time and they were surprised at how broad it is.

Q. What are employers concerned about?

Pollock: There have been three main areas of concern:

Cost. How is it going to affect the bottom line. For those employers already offering some form of paid sick leave, it's less of an issue. For smaller or medium size employers, especially those without a large profit margin, they're deeply concerned abut costs.

Administration. How am I going to keep track of this? What kind of system do I need in place? Do I need extra help to do this or is there someone already on staff who can manage it?

Employee abuse. That employees who are not sick are going to take paid sick time as vacation or what have you.

Q. What can an employer do if an employee has a "Monday morning hangover" - say, after celebrating the Super Bowl?

Pollock: Employers need to educate their employees about the permissible uses of sick time. Employers need to have a written policy against the abusive use of sick time. And, if the employer suspects an employee has been abusing sick time, it's very helpful to have documentation showing the employee has left work sick early every Friday the past five times or the past two months - or has a tendency to be sick on days when the University of Oregon is playing a football game.

The employer needs to have a sit down with the employee and counsel them, depending on the situation.

Q. Are there any areas of confusion that you're hearing about? Any myths or misperceptions?

Payne: I think there's confusion about what happens with the prior laws in Portland and Eugene. People have gotten used to having these local laws and now state law is going to preempt those once it goes into effect.

Pollock: I get lot of questions on how sick time can be calculated. Under the statute, there are two accrual methods to earn sick time as you go based on number of hours worked. Or there is front-loading, where the employer assigns a certain number of hours at the start of year, maybe 40. I get a lot of questions about those two options. Which one is better depends on the business.

Q. What are you hearing from clients? And what are you telling them?

Payne: I'm not hearing anything in particular. I can say that for a long time there has been a need for a law of this sort, especially for single-parent families. They just can't afford to take time off to take care of their children. This law is going to a make huge difference for them.

Pollock: Most employers have accepted the new law and are just looking at the best ways to make it work for their business. I have had a smaller group of employers who are more up in arms about this. They feel it's an unnecessary law if they were already providing sick time to their employees and feel this is just another level of regulations and bureaucracy.

I have reviewed quite a few employment policies and had to make revisions to almost all of them to make sure they are in compliance with the new law.

Quite a few policies allowed the employee to use leave for vacation or their own illness but not necessarily for family members. Other policies allowed an employee to accrue sick time but wouldn't allow them to carry over unused sick time.

Generally, an employer now has to let an employee carry over accrued, unused sick time from one year to the next. The employer can set some restrictions - a maximum cap of 80 hours -- and can also limit the employee to using only 40 hours a year.

Q. What happens if an employer doesn't comply? What recourse does an employee have?

Pollock: An employee can complain to an employer internally through the human resources department or can file a complaint with the Bureau of Labor and Industries, which has powers to investigate and impose a civil penalty for noncompliance. In certain situations, if an employee believes he has been discriminated or retaliated against for using or asking about sick time, he can file a civil lawsuit.

Payne: Generally, if an individual takes an action to BOLI, they are not represented by an attorney. BOLI has authority to take several actions, including assessing a civil penalty, which can exceed $1,000 if the violation is intentional.

A civil action can also be an effective way to enforce the law. Sometimes it brings additional threat of enforcement. If an employee has lost wages or been retaliated against, a civil action might be a better way to enforce the law. It depends on whether the individual was denied sick leave or suffered a more extreme form of retaliation - loss of a job or a job opportunity or sometimes harassment for asking for rights under the law.

Q. Final thoughts?

Payne:

The law doesn't apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Public employees are excluded under the law, so that is a significant amount. It also does not apply to federal employees or private employees represented by a union.

Federal employees are excluded under the law. The law also may not apply to union employees in limited circumstances.

Pollock: This law is not going away. Employers need to be addressing changes in their policies or adopting new policies now and employees should be learning what their new rights are.

-- George Rede

grede@oregonian.com

503-294-4004

@georgerede