C.O. businesses split on new sick leave law’s impact
On Jan. 1, Oregon’s new sick leave law was implemented, requiring businesses with more than 10 employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year to their employees.
Deschutes Brewery managers said Tuesday that their guidelines have changed slightly, but they have a great sick leave policy that will benefit from this new law.
However, managers at the Pine Tavern Restaurant in Bend said paid sick leave may mean they have to pay double — once for the employee on sick leave and once for their replacement.
Strictly Organic Coffee owner Rhonda Ealy said implemented the new sick leave policy once she heard the law could possibly change. That meant once the law was changed, there wasn’t a huge change to their policy.
“We’ve had PTO (paid time off) since 2009,” Ealy said. “And then we started to realize that folks didn’t necessarily need vacation as much as they needed days that they could just access when they were ill.”
Savory Spice Shop owner Matt Perry said he only has seven employees, so the law doesn’t apply to him. But he still decided he would comply.
“We felt like it’s a good law for people, and while it’s an additional cost, it’s a nice thing for our employees to know they have,” said Perry.
Even though this law has been in the works for a while, at this point, many Central Oregon businesses indicated they are still trying to figure out exactly how they are going to implement the new law within their policies.
Employers and workers can learn more about the new sick leave law at http://www.oregon.gov/BOLI/WHD/OST/Pages/index.aspx