Portland Employment Lawyers

Here’s a look at some of the key rules governing workplaces in Portland. It describes the basics of issues such as minimum wage, employment discrimination, family and medical leave, and more. For any specific concerns, though, there’s no substitute for legal counsel.

Under Oregon law, employees in the Portland metro area are entitled to a higher minimum wage than people elsewhere in the state. (This includes parts of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties.) The minimum wage for this area is set at $15.95 per hour in early 2025. On July 1, 2025, it’s set to increase to $16.30 per hour. Oregon doesn’t allow employers to apply tip credits toward an employee’s hourly pay. An employee can’t waive their right to the minimum wage. Certain types of employees are excluded from the minimum wage law, such as some agricultural workers and some people engaged in administrative, executive, or professional work.

State law also requires most employers to pay overtime at a rate of 1.5 times the employee’s regular pay rate for hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. (Again, certain employees are exempt). Special rules apply to employers such as hospitals, manufacturing establishments, and some agricultural employers. In addition, an employee gets two 10-minute paid rest breaks for each eight-hour work period, as well as one 30-minute unpaid meal break. The Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries enforces the wage laws.

The definition of what counts as “hours worked” under Oregon law is broader than you might think. It includes any time that an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace, and all the time that they’re permitted to work. Some examples of time that is generally considered “hours worked” include:

• Preparatory and concluding activities that are integral and indispensable to a principal activity for which the employee is employed
• Waiting time that is controlled by the employer and that the employee can’t use for their own purposes
• On-call time when an employee is required to be on-call on the employer’s premises or so close to them that the employee can’t use the time for their own purposes
• Time spent in meetings or trainings related to the job
• Travel between worksites that is needed to accomplish the day’s work

Portland employees are also covered by a federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, this law generally offers less protection than the state law. For example, the minimum wage under the FLSA is only $7.25 per hour, and employers can apply a tip credit as long as they pay tipped employees at least $2.13 per hour. Federal law also doesn’t require meal breaks or rest breaks. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor enforces the FLSA.

Portland employees are protected from discrimination under city, state, and federal laws. Discrimination may extend from refusing to hire a job applicant, firing an employee, and demoting or refusing to promote an employee to withholding benefits or training opportunities, paying less for the same work, and certain forms of harassment, among other conduct.

A Portland ordinance prohibits employment discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age (18 or older), disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, or familial status. An employee who thinks that their employer has violated the ordinance can file a complaint with the Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Meanwhile, the main Oregon employment discrimination statute protects workers from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age (18 or older), or an expunged juvenile record. Oregon also has some separate anti-discrimination provisions, including a statute that prohibits disability discrimination in the workplace if the employer has six or more employees. The Bureau of Labor and Industries enforces these laws. You have five years to file a complaint or lawsuit after an incident of discrimination.

Various federal anti-discrimination laws also protect employees in Portland. These include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It’s worth noting that “sex” includes pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity. However, Title VII only covers employers with 15 or more employees. Two other notable federal laws are the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, although the ADEA only protects employees who are 40 or older. The ADA applies to businesses with 15 or more employees, while the ADEA applies to businesses with 20 or more employees. You can file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if you think that your employer violated one of these laws. The EEOC gives you 300 days to file a complaint if a state agency enforces a state law that prohibits discrimination on the same basis.

Many lawsuits against employers involve claims of sexual harassment, which is technically a type of sex discrimination. There are two main forms of sexual harassment, which are known as “quid pro quo” and “hostile work environment.” Quid pro quo (“this for that”) happens when a supervisor offers an employment benefit if an employee provides sexual favors. It also happens when a supervisor threatens to take a negative job-related action if the employee doesn’t comply with a sexual demand. For example, a manager likely engages in quid pro quo harassment if they tell an assistant who is dating them that they’ll get fired if they break up with the manager.

In contrast, a hostile work environment doesn’t need to involve a direct demand for sex. It arises from unwelcome verbal or physical conduct that is so severe or pervasive that it interferes with work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. In other words, a single major incident could support a claim, as could a series of lesser incidents. Whether an environment is intimidating, hostile, or offensive depends on the perspective of a reasonable person in the employee’s position.

Under Oregon regulations, an employer is automatically liable for sexual harassment by a supervisor if this results in a tangible employment action against the employee. The employer is also generally liable for other sexual harassment by a supervisor, although the employer may have an affirmative defense in some cases. The employer is liable for harassment by coworkers or non-employees if it knew or should have known about the harassment and didn’t take immediate and appropriate corrective action. Federal law takes a largely similar approach.

Employees in Portland sometimes need to take time off from work for illnesses or to care for family members. Oregon has a sick time law that requires employers in Portland with six or more employees to provide at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work. Employers with five or fewer employees must provide at least one hour of unpaid sick time for every 30 hours of work. Employees must be allowed to accrue up to 40 hours per year. They can’t use sick leave during their first 90 days of employment with the employer. An employee can use this leave to address their own illness, injury, or health condition or a qualifying family member’s illness, injury, or health condition, among other reasons.

The state also operates a Paid Leave Oregon program. It covers most people who work for employers in the state, assuming that they’ve earned at least $1,000 during a certain period. Qualifying events for the program include having a serious health condition, having a family member with a serious health condition, or bonding with a child in the first year after their birth, adoption, or foster care placement, as well as completing necessary activities for an adoption or foster care placement or dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, bias crimes, or stalking. Paid Leave Oregon provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a year, plus up to two additional weeks for reasons related to pregnancy or childbirth. Your job is protected while you’re on paid leave if you’ve worked for 90 consecutive days for the employer. Benefits are capped at 120 percent of the state average weekly wage.

A law called the Oregon Family Leave Act covers employers with 25 or more employees. To be eligible, an employee generally must have worked for the employer for the last 180 days, and for at least 25 hours per week on average during that time. A 2024 amendment greatly reduced the reasons for leave that the OFLA covers, removing certain reasons that are now covered by Paid Leave Oregon. It now provides unpaid but job-protected leave for reasons such as bereavement, pregnancy disability, and a need to care for a child who has an injury, illness, or condition that requires home care. An employee can take up to 12 total weeks per year for bereavement leave and leave to care for a child, while they may take pregnancy disability leave for an additional 12 weeks in a year. Leave under the OFLA is in addition to leave under the Paid Leave Oregon program, rather than concurrent.

A federal law called the Family and Medical Leave Act provides unpaid, job-protected leave to qualifying employees of covered employers. The FMLA generally covers private employers only if they have at least 50 employees, and an employee must work at a place where the employer has 50 employees within 75 miles. They also must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours in the last 12 months. Most qualifying reasons for FMLA leave are already covered by Paid Leave Oregon, although there are a few additional provisions related to the military service of qualifying family members. (Oregon has its own provisions for military family leave as well.)

Employment relationships in Oregon, as in most other states, are governed by a principle called “at-will employment.” The good news is that you’re free to quit your job at any time and for any reason. The bad news is that your employer generally can fire you at any time and for any reason as well. However, at-will employment has some limits. Your employer can’t fire you in violation of an anti-discrimination law, for example, or to punish you for doing certain legally protected activities. These include filing a complaint or assisting with an investigation of discrimination or harassment in your workplace, serving on a jury, pursuing workers’ compensation, or reporting a workplace health or safety violation, among other examples.

Your employer also can’t fire you in violation of an employment contract. Some of these agreements provide that an employer can terminate employment only for certain reasons. In narrow situations, an employer also might create an “implied contract” with an employee that limits reasons for their termination. These cases are often challenging, and an employee should make sure to work with an attorney if they’re considering a wrongful termination claim on this basis.

If an employee suffers a job-related injury, they may want to pursue workers’ compensation benefits. These are available regardless of fault, although the tradeoff is that you can’t bring a personal injury lawsuit against your employer. (You could sue someone else if they contributed to your injuries, such as a manufacturer of defective equipment.) You should tell your employer about your injury as soon as possible, but at least within 90 days of an accident. Once you notify your employer, their insurer has 60 days to accept or deny your claim. If it’s denied, you’ll get a letter explaining how to appeal.

In addition to getting reimbursed for medical bills, you’ll get disability payments if your doctor says that you need time off from your job to recover, or if you lose wages because you’re restricted to lighter work. However, you won’t be paid for the first three days that you miss work unless you can’t return to work for 14 days. If you’re completely unable to work, you’ll generally get two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a cap. Payments are issued every two weeks and are not subject to tax. An employee will keep getting payments until they return to work or until their condition is considered medically stationary, which means that it’s not expected to improve further. At this point, they might get permanent disability payments.

The Oregon Employment Department provides unemployment insurance benefits as a partial replacement for lost earnings if an employee has lost their job or has had their hours reduced. An employee may be eligible for benefits if they earned enough wages in the 12-18 months before filing their claim. They also must have stopped working for their last employer through no fault of their own. For example, an employee isn’t likely to get unemployment benefits if they were fired for misconduct or if they quit their job without a good reason. Finally, an employee must be able and available to work, and they must actively look for work.

Unemployment benefits are usually available for up to 26 weeks in the 52-week benefit year. The weekly amount is calculated as 1.25 percent of the claimant’s total wages during what’s called their “base period,” subject to a minimum and maximum. To maintain your eligibility for benefits, you will need to file a claim for each week, report any hours worked and money earned during the week, and continue to actively seek work by completing at least five work search activities. Two of these activities must involve direct contact with employers.

According to Greater Portland, a regional public-private partnership, some of the largest employers in Portland include:

• Providence Health & Services
• Oregon Health & Science University
• Legacy Health
• Kaiser Permanente
• Fred Meyer Stores
• Portland State University
• U.S. Bank
• Daimler Trucks North America
• Precision Castparts
• Portland General Electric

Some of the surrounding cities also have major companies, including Intel in Hillsboro, Nike in Beaverton, and Lam Research in Tualatin.

If you’re concerned about a potential violation of your workplace rights, you might want to contact the agency responsible for enforcing the law at issue. For most Oregon employment laws, such as the wage law, the anti-discrimination laws, the sick leave law, and the Paid Leave Oregon program, the agency to contact is the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries. The Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division oversees the workers’ comp program, while the Oregon Employment Department manages the unemployment benefits process.

Key federal agencies to know include the U.S. Department of Labor, which enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act through its Wage and Hour Division, as well as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces most federal anti-discrimination laws. In general, though, local and state laws tend to be more favorable to employees than their federal counterparts.

If you want to read more about your workplace rights, the Employment Law Center in the Justia Legal Guides provides a useful free overview. To ask a specific question about a concern involving your employment, you can use our Justia Ask A Lawyer platform. An employment lawyer in Portland or elsewhere in Oregon might share some useful insights based on their knowledge and experience. (Keep in mind that this lawyer doesn’t become your attorney or owe you any of the duties that an attorney-client relationship involves.)

Once you decide that you need legal counsel or representation, you can look through the attorneys listed on this page. We’ve designed the Justia Lawyer Directory in a way that allows consumers to easily compare attorneys and contact those who interest them. Your choice could make a big difference to the outcome of any dispute with your employer, so it’s important to thoroughly evaluate your options.

Most employers have defense counsel on their side when they’re facing a claim by an employee or former employee. This makes it important to level the playing field by hiring an attorney of your own. Their familiarity with employment laws, regulations, and court decisions could have a critical impact on the outcome of your case. This area of law changes frequently and tends to have many subtle nuances that you might not uncover on your own. A lawyer can help you make sure that you leave no stone unturned and thoroughly protect your interests.

A lawyer also can take certain burdens related to your case off your shoulders. They can manage the process of gathering evidence to support your claim, which could be a headache if you’re not familiar with how the logistics work. They can guide you through settlement negotiations, helping you understand the pros and cons of settlement offers so that you can make a knowledgeable decision about whether to take one of them. If your case proceeds to a trial in court or another type of adversarial hearing, your lawyer can put together a cohesive plan for how they’ll persuade the judge or jury that the law is on your side. Both judicial and administrative processes involve precise procedural rules, and your attorney’s understanding of how these work will prevent your case from falling into pitfalls that you might not be able to spot by yourself.

There’s a broad range of employment lawyers in Portland and the surrounding communities, and you should take your time to assess their relative strengths. Even if you get a referral from someone whom you know, it’s probably good to take a look at your options online. The Justia Lawyer Directory is one of the tools that you can use to evaluate attorneys.

You should make sure to choose an attorney who is familiar with the type of legal issue in your case. Employment law consists of many diverse sub-areas, and not all attorneys are equally skilled in all of them. For example, if you don’t think that your employer paid you overtime as required, you should work with a lawyer experienced in wage and hour claims. If your employer didn’t give you a reasonable accommodation for your pregnancy, you should look for an attorney who has handled pregnancy discrimination cases.

Attorneys and law firms often list some of their most memorable achievements on their websites. You should check out their track record, but you shouldn’t stop there. It’s also important to look at client reviews, which can discuss issues such as how well an attorney communicates and whether they genuinely care about their clients. If an attorney has endorsements from their peers, this might indicate that they have a strong reputation in the legal field. This could improve your prospects when they’re arguing before a judge or negotiating a settlement with opposing counsel.

The Oregon State Bar imposes various rules of professional conduct to make sure that attorneys meet certain standards of ethics and integrity. You likely don’t want to work with a lawyer who has a tendency to repeatedly violate these rules, which could undermine your case. However, a small transgression a long time ago might not warrant crossing an attorney off your list if they seem like a good fit for your needs otherwise.

Ideally, you should put together a shortlist of options and meet with each attorney to go over the basics of your situation. As the lawyer gives you their impressions, you can think about whether they seem knowledgeable and worthy of trust. You should make sure to work with a lawyer who relates well to you and who puts you at ease discussing sensitive matters with them.

1. What will it cost to hire an employment lawyer?

   You may need to pay your attorney an hourly fee, which means that the cost of their work will depend on how much time they spend. If your case goes to trial rather than ending in a settlement, their fee may become more expensive. However, some employment lawyers handle cases for contingency fees, which means that they don’t get paid unless they get money for a client. They take their fee as a percentage of the money that they recover. In limited situations, you might be able to pay a flat fee to an attorney to do a certain routine task.

2. What is the distinction between employees and independent contractors?

   Determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor involves factors such as the degree of control over the work, whether the worker is engaged in a distinct occupation, the level of supervision, and how the worker is paid. Misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor instead of an employee can make the employer liable for unpaid wages and taxes.

3. Do I have a right to severance pay if I’m laid off?

   Oregon law generally does not require employers to provide severance pay when laying off employees. However, you might have a right to severance pay under your employment contract or an employer policy or collective bargaining agreement. If your employer doesn’t follow the terms of these documents, you might be able to take legal action to enforce them.

4. What is constructive discharge?

   Constructive discharge occurs when an employer makes working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would feel compelled to resign. Although Oregon is an at-will employment state, an employee may have a claim for wrongful termination based on a constructive discharge if they’re forced to quit by being subjected to misconduct such as discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

5. Are employers required to offer health insurance to employees?

   Oregon doesn’t have a state law that universally requires employers to provide health insurance to all employees. However, the federal Affordable Care Act places certain requirements on employers with 50 or more full-time employees. Smaller employers may choose to offer health insurance as a benefit, but it’s generally not mandatory under the law.