Paid Leave Oregon has recently changed the way an employer should count its employees to determine if the employer is classified as a 'large' or 'small' employer. This classification affects whether the employer is required to pay contributions or not. Under the Paid Leave Oregon rules, employers with 25 or more employees are required to contribute to the program. The new counting method aligns with how employees are counted for unemployment insurance.
Specifically, the new way to count the employer size is to use the average number of employees on the 12th of each month for the previous 12 months. This new method uses 12 numbers to calculate the average instead of just four. Detailed descriptions of how to count an employer size for 2023 are outlined in the state's 2023 Employer Size Instructions.